An inscribed archaic bronze ritual food vessel, Gui, Western Zhou dynasty | 西周 叔簋

Crisply cast with pairs of birds beneath the rim, depicted with their backward-turned heads and long tails and crests, centered by beast masks in high relief and flanked by a pair of loop handles issuing from horned animal heads, this gui is representative of bronze casting in the Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1050-771 BC). Gui were used during ritual ceremonies for storing cooked rice or millet. While vessels of this type first appeared in the Erligang phase, this form increased in popularity from the early Western Zhou dynasty, and numerous variations of the original shape also began to appear. Vessels from this period often feature extravagant and elaborate designs of birds, whose prominence indicates their increasing popularity. The design on this gui is restricted to a narrow frieze of decoration that is unassertive and serves to underline and emphasise the strong curves and shape of the vessel.

Examples of similar design include a slightly smaller gui with a fourty-character inscription in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Qingtongqi/Bronzes In the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pl. 153; another, with a band of overlapping feathers encircling the foot, formerly in the Arthur M. Sackler collection, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington D.C., 1990, p. 434-7, no. 55, sold twice at Christie's New York, 18th March 2009, lot 208, and 27th November 2013, lot 3592; and a third example, from the collection of The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Furness, sold in these rooms, 13th December 1977, lot 214.