A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, HU, MIDDLE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
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Description
Expert's note: This vessel comes in a 100% untreated, original, as-excavated condition unlike most of the large Shang and Zhou Dynasty bronzes in circulation, which typically have undergone substantial restoration and patina treatment/enhancement. The X-Ray (images 3 and 4) reveals that the meticulously incised design is in a magnificent state of preservation just below the patina. The X-Ray (images 20, 21, 22 and 23) further reveals that there is no repair work whatsoever, and that deep surface corrosion is minimal. Overall, it must be said that such a large vessel, which such fine designs, and in such a good condition must be regarded as very rare. (more x-ray images available upon request)
China, 10th-9th century BC. The sides flat-cast with four rows of large fish scale patterns with combed borders, below two pairs of long-tailed birds confronted on a leiwen band between a pair of lug handles flanking the base of the neck, the whole raised on a spreading pedestal foot pierced on two sides with a circular aperture. The bronze is covered overall in a magnificent, naturally grown patina with extensive malachite, cuprite, and azurite encrustation.
Provenance: A Far Eastern collector in Queens, New York, USA. Originally, one of a pair. The other sold from his collection at Christie's New York, 26 March 2003, lot 155, and is now in the Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, reference number CVCSC 0303.A. Michael B. Weisbrod, acquired from the above. Michael B. Weisbrod is a noted scholar of Chinese art, who has published extensively on the subject over a time span of more than 50 years. In 1972, Michael joined his father Dr. Gerald Weisbrod's Asian art gallery in Toronto, Canada. The father-and-son team opened their New York location on Madison Avenue in 1977, and during the next 45 years the gallery held a significant number of exhibitions, selling to museums and private collectors across the globe, eventually adding further locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, minor losses and small nicks, light scratches, encrustations. Natural patina overall with extensive malachite, cuprite, and azurite encrustations. The patina further with scattered cloth imprints from ancient linen into which the vessel was shrouded before being buried, now long gone. X-ray images proving the excellent condition are available upon request.
Weight: 5,480 g
Dimensions: Height 40.5 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare the counterpart to this jar, once in the same collection as the present lot, at Christie's New York, 26 March 2003, lot 155, and now in the Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, reference number CVCSC 0303.A. Compare also a similar bronze hu, with cover, found in Baijia, Fufeng, Shaanxi province, 1975, and now in the Fufeng County Museum, illustrated in Zhonguo meishu quanji, gongyi meishu, bian 4, qingtongqi (1), (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts, Arts and Crafts, volume 4, Bronzes (1)), Beijing, 1987, page 192, no. 213, where the pattern on the body is described as fish scales. It is possible, however, that this may be feathers, which would relate to the birds on the neck. Either way, the patterns on the present vessel and the published example are identical. Compare also a related hu, of more slender form with a band of confronted birds on the neck between the lug handles, and rows of overlapping feathers or fish scale patterns of smaller size covering the body, in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1 February-3 April 1983, no. 28. Like the present hu, this example is dated to the middle Western Zhou period.
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尺寸:高40.5 厘米
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