AN ELLIPTICAL BRONZE VESSEL, MID-SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD
China, early 6th century BC. The sides are flat-cast with a neatly incised band of archaic scrolls. The ovoid vessel with a deep body rising from a flat foot to a short waisted neck and everted rim. It has an indentation bisecting the two long sides, one of which is set with a single loop handle.

Provenance: Arthur M. Sackler, New York. Old inventory number, 'V-76', to base. Arthur Mitchell Sackler (1913-1987) was one of America's foremost art collectors, who amassed the largest Chinese art collection in the world. His name lives on in many art-related projects: the Sackler Wing that houses the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at Princeton University, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University. At the Smithsonian Institute, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is a museum for Asian and Near Eastern Art. In China, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology teaches museology to students in Beijing.
Condition: Fine condition, commensurate with age. Signs of weathering and erosion. Some losses with associated old fills and repairs, small nicks to the rim, the interior with scratches. Naturally grown patina with patches of malachite and cuprite encrustations.

Weight: 744.4 g
Dimensions: Width 16 cm

Auction result comparison: Compare a related but slightly smaller (13 cm long) elliptical bronze vessel, also dated to the early 6th century BC and of similar form and design, at Christie's New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 14 September 2012, lot 1241, sold for USD 8,750.

春秋中期青銅罐
中國，公元前六世紀初。銅罐縮頸，唇圓外翻，外壁肩部一道寬寬飾紋帶，裏面可見卷雲紋，一單環耳。

來源：紐約Arthur M. Sackler收藏，底足舊收藏編號 'V-76'。Arthur Mitchell Sackler (1913-1987) 曾是美國最重要的藝術收藏家之一，擁有世界上最大的中國藝術收藏。他的名字曾出現在眾多與藝術相關的項目中：美國大都會藝術博物館Dendur神廟所在的Sackler展館、普林斯頓大學的Arthur Mitchell Sackler展館和哈佛大學的Arthur Mitchell Sackler博物館。 在史密森學會，Arthur Mitchell Sackler展館是亞洲和近東藝術博物館。 在中國北京，學生們在Arthur Mitchell Sackler藝術與考古博物館學習博物館學。
品相：品相良好，與其年齡相符，風化和侵蝕的跡象。 一些舊時填充和修復，小刻痕，罐內部有劃痕。 自然生長的包漿，局部有孔雀石綠和赤紅色結殼。

重量：744.4 克
尺寸：寬 16 厘米

拍賣結果比較：一件公元前六世紀初相似外形和紋飾但稍小 (長13 厘米) 的銅罐見紐約佳士得Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 2012年9月14日 lot 1241, 售價USD 8,750。