AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL,GULate Shang DynastyThe slender vessel cast on the flaring trumpet neck with four blades of stylised cicada with large eyes forming dispersedtaotie masks in raised relief on a fineleiwen ground, extending from a horizontal band ofkui dragons, the central section cast with furthertaotie masks bisected by raised notched flanges, separated from the lower section by paired relief 'bowstring' lines, the flanges repeated on the flaring foot enhancing elaborate horizontalkui dragons with c-shaped horns, box.31cm (12 1/4in) high, 1.35kg (2).For further information on this lot please visit theProvenance: 商晚期 青銅饕餮紋四出戟觚Provenance:J.J. Lally & Co., New YorkMeiyingtang Collection, RapperswilGalerie Christian DeydierAn Asian private collection, acquired from the above on 19 June 2015Exhibited:Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Archaic Bronze, Musee Guimet, Paris, March to June 2013, no.14Published and Illustrated: Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, pp.40-41, no.14Musee des Arts Asiatiques, Guimet, Tresors de la Chine ancienne, Paris, 2013, p.50, ier, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, Paris, 2017, vol.1, p.27, no.14來源:紐約藍捷理藝廊瑞士玫茵堂舊藏巴黎戴克成藝廊亞洲私人收藏，2015年6月19日購於上者 展覽:「玫茵堂藏中國銅器」，巴黎吉美美術館，2013年3月至6月，編號14出版及著錄: 汪濤，《Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection中國銅器》，倫敦，2009年，頁40-41，編號14吉美美術館，《Tresors de la Chine ancienne中國古代珍寶》，巴黎，2013年，頁50，編號27戴克成，《Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection中國銅器》，巴黎，2017年，卷1，頁27，編號14Bronze gu vessels such as the present lot were among the most important objects used in State rituals of the late Shang dynasty. Similar archaic bronze gu vases from the late Shang dynasty can be found in a number of important museum collectionspare with two similar gu illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pp.68-69, nos.40 and 43; see another similar gu dated to the middle/late Anyang period, of similar size (31.7cm high) and archaistic decorative motifs, illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pp.280-283, no.41l; and another example in the Henan Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji: Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji: Shang, vol.IV, Beijing, 2006, p.67, blade motif at the neck of these slender vessels is an Anyang innovation. See R.Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M.Sackler Collections, p.229. A similar gu, late Shang dynasty, excavated in Anyang, now in the Institute of Archaeology, The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, is illustrated by Li Jianwei and Niu Ruihong, Zhongguo Qingtong ji tulu, vol.I, Beijing, 2005, p.118 (top); see also a related excavated example, unearthed at Yongdoucun, Majiahe, Yanchuan county, Shaanxi Province, in the Cultural Relics Institute of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, illustrated in Bronzes from Northern Shaanxi, vol.II Chengdu, 2009, p.155; and another excavated from the Shang tomb at Xiaq