A SMALL ARCHAIC BRONZE EWER 'HE'

Description:

China, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 481-256 B.C.
H. 10,4 cm
Bronze cast in two parts with malachite-coloured patina and earth incrustations, on four zoomorphic feet with tiger-head-shaped spout and handle, the lid with an ornament in the shape of a mandarin duck.
From the Zeileis collection, assembled in the 1980s and 90s
Published in: Friedrich Georg Zeileis, 'Von Shang bis Qing, Dreieinhalb Jahrtausende Chinesische Bronze', Gallspach, 1999, no. 97, pp. 276-277 - Cf. a simpler piece in the collection of the Musée Cernuschi in Paris, published in Christian Deydier: Chinese Bronzes, New York, 1980, p. 228, no. 80 - Traces of age