An archaic bronze wine vessel,GuLate Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BCE to c. 1045 BCE)cast to the interior of the foot two pictogram-characters, 「叔子」(shu zi),28.0cm highProvenance: Provenance:Sotheby's, London. 12 December 1989, lot 107商晚期 青銅饕餮紋「叔子」觚傳承：蘇富比，倫敦，1989年12月12日，拍品107號Bronzegu was extremely popular during the Shang dynasty and discontinued around mid Western Zhou dynasty. Shapes such as that of the current lot, with a narrow waist and normally more than 20cm high, are from the late Shang dynasty. Similar vessels to the present lot can be found in various important public collections and international auctions. See similar examples in the Metropolitan Museum, .10, and British Museum, ,0223.3, and more similarly in size and decoration, Sotheby's, New York, 20 Sep 2022, lot 3. Note that all these examples, including the current lot, are decorated with the blade motif at the neck, which is an Anyang innovation. According to Shang customs, the two characters represent either the name of the owner, or the name of an ancestor to whom the vessel is dedicated.青銅觚至西周中期后已不再使用。現已見于報道的銅觚盛行于商代，西周中期后即罕見。如此形制的細體觚通高多在20厘米以上者，屬於商代晚期製作。類似青銅觚可見于海内外各大博物館及國際市場，包括大英博物館館藏，.10，及大都會博物館館，,0223.3。與之紋飾、大小更相近的一觚，可見蘇富比，紐約，2022年9月20日，拍品3號。此類觚的頸部都飾有長葉形的紋樣，是安陽時期青銅器的一大創新，也是安陽出土青銅觚一大特色。根據商制，青銅器銘文或為作器者之屬，及所謂族氏銘文，或本家族死去先人的名、稱，為日名。「叔子」二字，更可能為前者。