AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL AND COVER (DOU) EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 6TH / 5TH CENTURY BC

the domed cover completing the spherical form, the body, cover and flared pedestal foot finely decorated overall with dense bands of squared interlaced quills, the body set with a pair of loop handles, the cover with three loop handles, wood stand (3)

Please note the additional provenance: The Montague Meyer Family Collection (until 1980). Christie's London, 14th April 1980, lot 62. Rare Art, Inc., New York (until 1981). The surface has been cleaned resulting in the removal of any encrustation. Inspected under UV light which revealed no fluorescence. In good overall condition.
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A similar dou and cover were included in the exhibition Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1990, cat. no. 39, where Jessica Rawson characterizes it as a typical piece of the 6th century. Both pieces are stylistically very similar to a dou lacking the lappet band, excavated at Nandawang near Xingtai, Hebei province, illustrated in Hebei sheng chutu wenwu xuanji, Beijing, 1980, pl. 112. Compare also a dou and cover whose design is composed of very similar rectangular units of entwined snakes, illustrated in Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, New York, 1995, no. 24, attributed to the late Spring and Autumn period