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Lot 245
A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE HU AND COVER
Estimated Value:
3.000 € - 5.000 €
Schätzpreis:
9.000 €
Description:
China, Warring States / Han Dynasty, 3rd/2nd c. B.C.H. 39,5 cm
With a pear-shaped body encircled by four ribs, the uppermost rib vaulted by a pair of loop handles fashioned as flanged dragon bodies with dragon's-head terminals and large horns, all dusted with malachite and azurite, the cover with six petal-shaped flanges radiating outwards, each incised with bracket scrolls.
Important Austrian private collection, bought 1994 from Sotheby's London, 7.6.1994, lot 7
Publ. Zeileis 'From Shang to Qing - Three and a Half Millennia of Chinese Bronze', 1999, no. 99, pp. 280-281
These unusual and rare bronze covers are discussed by Gyllensvärd, 'The First Floral Patterns On Chinese Bronzes', B.M.F.E.A., Stockholm, no. 34, 1962, pp. 29-47, where he illustrates a similarly shaped hu in a line drawing, fig. 20, as well as several vessels of related form but with more intricate decoration, pls. VII and VIll
Wear, traces of age
