A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 1
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 2
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 3
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 4
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 5
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 6
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 7
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU - photo 8

A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU

Lot 2904
29.11.2022 13:30UTC +08:00
Classic
Starting price
HKD 1 800 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationHong Kong, Hong Kong
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 861884
Lot 2904 | A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
Estimate value
HKD 1 800 000 – 2 800 000
A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU

WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)

The vessel is raised on a spreading rectangular pedestal foot and cast in relief with panels of tight abstract curl patterns arranged in five registers and bordered by bands of copper inlay, the narrow sides similarly decorated and applied with taotie masks suspending ring handles, all below a dogtooth band on the waisted neck and a copper band on the flared mouth, covered with light green encrustations.

13 1/4 in. (33.5 cm.) high





Provenance

Collection of Captain and Mrs Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson, Oxfordshire (Captain Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson, 1891-1968)

The Mount Trust collection of Chinese Art (established in 1968 on the death of Captain Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson), on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, August 1969 - May 1975

The Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection, Hong Kong and San Francisco, since the 1980s

Sold at Sotheby's London, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including a Selection from the Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Bronzes, 7 June 2000, lot 14

Mr and Mrs S. Feinberg, Boston, November 2000, acquired with Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2000, thence by descent within the family

Important Asian private collection, acquired from Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2019



Literature

William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, p.66, pl. 67b

John Ayers, The Mount Trust Collection of Chinese Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1970, no.6 (fig. 1)

Jessica Rawson, The Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1998, no.36 (fig. 2)

Eskenazi Ltd., Room for Study: Fifty Scholar's Objects, London, 31 October - 29 November 2019, no.13



Exhibited

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, The Mount Trust Collection of Chinese Art, 20 January 1970 - March 1970

And thereafter onto Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield



Post Lot Text

A RARE AND IMPORTANT COPPER-INLAID BRONZE WINE VESSEL, BIANHU
CHINA, WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)
Applied technique:Metalwork
Medium:Bronze
Historical era:Zhou dynasty (1100-256 BC)
Place of origin:China, Eastern Asia, Asia
Auction house category:All other types of objects, Vases and vessels
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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Hong Kong
Hong Kong
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29.11.2022 – 29.11.2022
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