VASE RITUEL EN BRONZE ARCHAÏQUE, GUFin de la dynastie Shang (ca XII-XIe siècles av. J.-C.) A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU Late Shang Dynasty (circa 12th-11th century BC) Finely cast with a slender flanged central section decorated with taotie masks, between the neck rising to the trumpet shaped mouth decorated with a foliate border below the cicada blades, and the splayed tall flanged foot similarly cast with taotie masks, all against leiwen ground, raised on a short straight circular foot, the interior plain and the underside with three pictograms reading Ding Ji and a clan sign, the bronze with attractive encrustation and verdigris. 29cm (11 3/8in) high. Provenance: Robert Rousset, Paris (1901-1981); according to a note by Jean-Pierre Rousset this gu was found in Houjiashuang, Xibeigang Royal cemetery at Anyang in 1934 Jean-Pierre Rousset, Paris (1936-2021) Bronze 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. pare 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, 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. pare with a related archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu , late Shang dynasty, which was sold at London, 11 May 2021, lot 12. 商晚期 青铜饕餮纹觚 來源： 巴黎Robert Rousset（1901-1981）舊藏 巴黎Jean-Pierre Rousset（1936-2021）舊藏 據Jean-Pierre Rousset記錄記載，本拍品於1934年出土於安陽侯家莊西北岡