A very rare archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, Gu


Shang DynastyThe slender vessel cast on the flaring trumpet neck with four blades of stylised cicada with double eyes forming dispersed taotie masks in raised relief on a fine leiwen ground, extending from a horizontal band of kui dragons, the central section cast with further taotie 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 horizontal kui dragons with c-shaped horns, the surface displaying a brilliant emerald green patina with vivid malachite encrustations, the interior foot with two pictographs reading 'Yue fu geng'. 31cm (12 1/4in) high.
|The Property of a Gentleman 士紳藏品商 青銅饕餮紋觚「戉兀父庚」銘文 Provenance: Wui Po Kok Antique, Hong Kong, 1990Gisele Croes Arts D'Extreme Orient, Brussels, 2013Jean-Yves Ollivier CollectionPublished and Illustrated: G.Croës, Matter and Memory. Asia Week New York, Brussels, 2014, pp.30-31來源：香港古董商匯寶閣，1990年布魯塞爾古董商吉賽爾藝廊，2013年歐宗易先生珍藏出版及著錄：吉賽爾著，《Matter and Memory. Asia Week New York（憶事·紐約亞洲藝術周）》，布魯塞爾，2014年，頁30-31Bronze 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 collections. Compare 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, no.69. The 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 Xiaqiyuan, Ci county, in the collection of the Hebei Museum, illustrated in National Treasures of Hebei Province, Hebei, 2008, p.100.A similar ritual bronze wine vessel, gu, late Shang dynasty, was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 28. See also another related gu, late Shang dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2014, lot 6.觚，為盛酒之禮器，用於商周宗廟祭祀之中。類似商末時期的例子可見於世界各大博物館收藏。當中北京故宮博物院藏有兩例，並收錄於《故宮藏青銅器》，北京，1999年，頁68至69，編號40及43。台北國立故宮博物院的一例，為安陽中期至後期器物，紋飾與本器一致，詳見《故宮商代禮器圖錄》，台北，1998年，頁280至283，編號41l。另外一例則由河南省立博物館所藏，詳見《中國美術分類全集：中國青銅器全集：商》，卷四，北京，2006年，頁67，編號69。器頸所飾之蟬紋，屬於安陽時期之藝術創新，參閱R.Bagley著，《Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections（賽克勒藏商代青銅禮器）》，頁229。可資比對的一件商末青銅觚，於安陽出土，現由中國社會科學院考古研究所所藏，並載於李建偉、牛瑞紅著，《中國青銅器圖錄》，卷一，北京，2005年，頁118（上方）；另一相關例子現藏於陝西省文物局，原於陝西省延川縣馬家河用斗村出土，並載於《陝北出土青銅器》，卷二，成都，2009年，頁155；以及河北博物院藏一件由河北磁縣下七垣商代墓葬出土的青銅觚，載於《燕趙國寶》，河北，2008年，頁100。香港邦瀚斯曾於2016年11月29日推出一件商末青銅觚，拍品28號。另一相關的例子，同為商末時代器物，2014年3月18日於紐約蘇富比拍賣，拍品6號。