A POWERFULLY CAST ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, GUI LATE SHANG DYNASTY

the deep rounded sides supported on a high stepped base with a broad everted rim, powerfully cast around the body with fine lines forming a diamond lattice punctuated by sharp bosses, all between angular bands of zoomorphic beasts divided by raised animal heads, the shoulders surmounted by a pair of animal heads issuing handles, the base with a grid design in relief, the surface of the bronze with some encrustations to the interior 

Collection of Kinpei Takeuchi (1873-1960), Tokyo.
Collection of Ryuichi Sano (1889-1977).
Collection of Sano Art Museum, Mishima, Shizuoka.
Sotheby's New York, 14th September 2011, lot 266. 

Shū Kan ihō [Relics of Han and pre-Han dynasties], Teishitsu Hakubutsukan [Imperial Household Museum], Tokyo, 1932, pl. XVI.

Archaic bronze ritual food vessels decorated with this striking 'diamond and boss' design were an innovation of Anyang bronze foundries in the late Shang dynasty. In the current vessel, the rows of sharp triangular motifs frame the overall symmetry of the standard gui form, transforming it into an object of power and awe.

For a further discussion on the decoration and form, see an example from the collection of Chen Jieqi, said to have been found in Shaanxi Qishan Xian, illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1987, no. 98.1.

This form continued to be made in the early Western Zhou period, as discussed by Jessica Rawson, who illustrates a vessel of this form in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 378, fig. 41.1, an example excavated from Liquan Xian in Shaanxi province. See also a smaller vessel of this form, illustrated by Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, no. 96.

For examples sold recently at auction, see two gui vessels from the collection of J.T. Tai & Co., sold in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 35 and another from the Masaki Art Museum, sold in our New York rooms, 11th September 2012, lot 95.