Chinese Ritual Bronzes from a Distinguished New York Private Collection

Chinese Ritual Bronzes from a Distinguished New York Private Collection

• An Impressive Archaic Bronze Ritual Food Vessel (Pou), Late Shang Dynasty. Estimate $100,000–150,000.
  

  Intricately cast with an elaborate design of taotie and kuilong and accentuated by three pairs of prominently raised bovine heads, the present pou is notable for its large size and dignified form. This form first appeared at the end of the Erligang period and ceased after the beginning of the Western Zhou period.

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• An Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel (Jue), Late Shang Dynasty. Estimate $15,000–25,000.
  

  This elegant and dynamic form also features two taotie masks with bulging eyes, and is inscribed with a character possibly reading fu.

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• An Archaic Bronze Ritual Food Vessel (Ding), Late Shang / Early Western Zhou Dynasty. Estimate $30,000–50,000.
  

  The distinctive 'diamond and boss' decoration on this vessel appears to have been an innovation of the Anyang bronze foundries and was popular in the late Shang period. It is commonly found on round-bodied vessels, most often on gui and yu.

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• A Rare Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel (Lei), Late Shang / Early Western Zhou Dynasty. Estimate $80,000–120,000.
  

  This ritual wine vessel features four loop handles each with crisply cast bovine heads and inscribed at the top. It is rare to find bronze lei of this type cast with inscriptions.

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• A Rare Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel (Zhi), Early - Middle Western Zhou Dynasty. Estimate $30,000–50,000.
  

  A band of kuilong against a leiwen ground encircles the neck of this vessel, which is interrupted by a pair of raised ram-head masks. A highly abstract band of winged-creature motifs surround the foot.

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• An Exceptionally Rare Pair of Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessels (Fangyi), Western Zhou Dynasty. Estimate $60,000–80,000.

  Of all ritual bronze shapes, fangyi is one of the rarest due to its relatively short production period. Vessels of this type first appeared in the early to mid-Anyang period. Following the fall of the Shang dynasty and its extravagant drinking culture, fangyi also declined in use and eventually disappeared after the Western Zhou dynasty.

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• An Extremely Rare Set of Seven Archaic Bronze Ritual Bells (Zhong), Western Zhou Dynasty. Estimate $100,000–150,000.

  Large percussion sets comprising yongzhong and other bells such as the present form were played during rituals and banquets of the aristocracy. According to the Zhouli [The Rites of Zhou], from the Eastern Zhou, only kings, marquises and other select members of the aristocracy were entitled to possess such bronze bells, making them prized and auspicious gifts among the elite.

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• A Large Copper-Inlaid Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel And Cover (Hu), Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States Period. Estimate $80,000–120,000.
  

  The present hu is elaborately adorned with seven registers inlaid with copper, rising sequentially as a frieze of confronting pairs of antlered deer flanked by addorsed pairs of long-tailed birds, confronting sinuous dragons flanked by scrolls, stylized taotie flanked by scrolling kuilong, confronting pairs of writhing dragons, and two registers of confronting mythical birds with coiling tails.

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• A Pair Of Archaic Bronze Vases And Covers (Fanghu), Han Dynasty. Estimate $10,000–15,000.
  

  Robustly cast with swelling pear-shaped bodies surmounted by four hooked rings, this pair of fanghu suspend loose rings issuing from crisp beast-mask handles.

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