A BRONZE STORAGE VESSEL, FANGHU, HAN DYNASTY China, 206 BC to 220 AD. The tall, square vessel raised on a spreading foot, with plain curved sides narrowing to the neck set off by a lozenge-shaped mouth, a distinct characteristic of vessels from the Han dynasty. Two alternate sides are crisply cast with taotie mask handles suspending thick rings.

Provenance: From an old German private collection, assembled in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s, thence by descent in the same family.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, minor casting flaws, few minuscule cracks, minuscule nicks to edges, signs of corrosion. Superb, naturally grown patina with scattered malachite encrustation.

Weight: 3,699 g
Dimensions: Height 36 cm

Literature comparison: Compare a similar bronze fanghu excavated at Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei province, now in the Yunmeng County Museum, published in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (‘Complete collection of Chinese archaic bronzes’), vol. 12, Beijing, 1998, pl. 9; and another in the collection of the Fujii Yurinkan, Kyoto, illustrated in Sueji Umehara, Nihon shucho Shina kodo seikwa (‘Select Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Japan’), vol. 6, Osaka, 1964, pl. 471.

Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related bronze fanghu, also dated to the Han dynasty, at Bonhams San Francisco in Fine Chinese Works of Art on 16 December 2014, lot 8008, sold for USD 8,750.

漢代青銅輔首啣環方壺
中國，公元前206 至公元220 年。器方口微侈，方唇，長頸，饕餮紋鋪首銜環耳，鼓腹、下部緩收，平底，方圈足。

來源：德國私人老收藏，上世紀五十至六十年代購於日本，在同一家族保存至今。
品相：狀況極佳，與年齡相稱。 廣泛磨損、輕微鑄造瑕疵、少量微小裂紋、邊緣的微小刻痕，有腐蝕跡象，極好的自然生長的包漿，帶有散落的孔雀石綠色結殼。

重量：3,699 克
尺寸：高36 厘米

拍賣結果比較: 比較一件相近的漢代銅方壺，見舊金山邦翰思Fine Chinese Works of Art 2014年12月16日 lot 8008, 售價USD 8,750。