AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU


Late Shang dynastyFinely cast with a cylindrical body between a flared foot and tall trumpet mouth, the neck cast with four stylized cicada blades above a leiwen band, the body and foot cast with pairs of taotie masks with raised bosses forming eyes and divided by four raised notched flanges, all against a leiwen ground, the surface with areas of malachite encrustation. 10 3/8in (26cm) high
|商末 青銅饕餮紋觚Similar archaic bronze gu vessels, dated to the late Shang dynasty, can be found in important museum collections. Compare two similar gu illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pp.68-69, nos.40 and 43; and another example illustrated in Robert Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, 1987, pl.31.