AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL (GUI) EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

the rounded sides finely cast with a wide register of regularly spaced pronounced bosses against a diamond trellis ground enclosing a linear motif, above a narrow band of stylized dragons on a leiwen ground centered on a pair of animal masks, below a frieze of elongated dragons with protuberant eyes and divided by flanges, the loop handles surmounted by horned taotie heads, all raised on a high, stepped base, the interior with a lengthy pictogram inscription, the silvery gray patina with malachite encrustation

Property of a Gentleman.
Sotheby & Co., London, 16th May 1967, lot 41.

Gui, on raised bases with diamond and boss patterns both with and without handles, have been found in several sites in Shaanxi province dated to the early Western Zhou dynasty. Similar examples are discussed and illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 378, figs. 41.1 and 41.2.