A BRONZE RITUAL WINE CUP, ZHI, LATE SHANG TO EARLY WESTERN ZHOU China, 11^th century BC. The broad pear-shaped body supported on a spreading foot and rising to an everted rim, finely decorated around the waisted neck with a narrow band of archaic scroll between two line borders and around the foot with similar scroll and geometric designs as well as four bosses.

Inscriptions: To the interior, ‘Fu’ (Father).

Provenance: Armin Lemp, Zürich, Switzerland 1961. The Plesch Collection, no. Bv12 (label to base), acquired from the above. Peter and Traudi Plesch were both refugees from Nazi persecution. Peter had left Germany with his father, who was the medical doctor of Albert Einstein, who once gently commented on the practical difficulties of young Peter's ingenious design for a perpetual motion machine. Peter Plesch had already formed a fine collection when he met Traudi. One influence had been his maternal great uncle, Fritz von Gans, who had left his antiquities collection to the Royal Prussian Museum, Berlin. However, on their honeymoon in Israel, Traudi fell for the lure of ancient Chinese glass which inspired a new joint adventure, the one criterion for a purchase being that she and Peter should both want the object, although not necessarily with the same passion. Thus their collection was formed slowly and wisely over four decades, later expanding into jades and ancient bronzes, reflecting their desire to have beautiful, but also academically meaningful pieces.
Condition: Superb condition, commensurate with age, and absolutely original with no repairs or touchups whatsoever. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion. Fine, naturally grown patina with extensive malachite and cuprite encrustation.

Weight: 481.6 g
Dimensions: Height 11.2 cm

Literature comparison: Compare a closely related bronze zhi, dated to the early Western Zhou, c. 1050-1100 BC, in the collection of the Arthur M. Sacker Gallery in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institute, accession number S2012.9.585.

Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related bronze zhi, also dated late Shang to early Western Zhou, of closely related size (11.4 cm high), only the upper body of slightly different design, at Christie’s New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 14 September 2018, lot 1103, sold for USD 37,500.

商末至西周初年青銅觶
中國，公元前十一世紀。圓腹，侈口，圈足。頸部與足部飾雲雷紋。

銘文: 器内可見“父”字樣。

來源：1961年瑞士蘇黎世Armin Lemp收藏。Plesch 收藏，no. Bv12 (見底部標籤)，購於上述收藏。Peter 與Traudi Plesch 兩人都是遭受納粹迫害的難民。Peter與他的父親一起離開了德國，他的父親是阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦的醫生，愛因斯坦曾經溫和地和年輕的Peter討論如何設計永動機的實際困難。 Peter Plesch 在遇到 Traudi 時已經擁有了一個很好的收藏。他的外叔祖弗里茨·馮·甘斯 (Fritz von Gans) 曾給Peter極大的影響，他將自己的文物收藏留給了柏林皇家普魯士博物館。然而，在以色列度蜜月時，Traudi 被中國古代琉璃的魅力所吸引，因此激發了一次新收藏冒險。他們購買藏品的一個標準是，她和彼得必須都想要這件物品，但並不一定要有相同的熱情。因此，他們的藏品在四十年來被緩慢卻明智地構建著，後來擴展到玉器和古代青銅器，這反映了他們願意擁有美麗但同時也具有學術意義的藏品。
品相：狀況極佳，與年齡相稱，絕對原始，沒有任何修補或修飾。廣泛磨損、風化和侵蝕。細膩且為自然生長的包漿，帶有大量綠色紅色結殼。

重量：481.6 克
尺寸：高11.2 厘米

拍賣結果比較：比較一件相近青銅觶，同樣為商末至西周初年，相近尺寸 (高11.4 厘米)，僅在青銅器上半部有不同紋飾，見紐約佳士得Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art，2018年9月14日 lot 1103, 售價USD 37,500。