An extremely rare archaic bronze wine vessel (fangzun) Western Zhou Dynasty

the four-sided vessel rising from a square-sectioned body to a round neck and wide trumpet mouth, crisply cast in relief on each side of the central register with a taotie animal mask with a distinctive cicada-shaped nose, large split-eye bosses for the eyes, and bushy eyebrows, set between four pairs of descending dragons on the corners of the neck and confronting dragons around the foot, all reserved on a dense leiwen ground, the corners embellished with high barbed flanges, the base of the interior cast with a seven-character inscription, the gray gun-metal patina with light malachite and azurite encrustation

Acquired in Taipei, Taiwan, 1980.

Ching Wan Society Millennium Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan, October 2000, cat.no. 112.

one side of the foot appears to have been broken in two pieces and repaired, the lowest flange to the right of this repair has been restored, there appear to be repaired breaks to two of the uppermost flanges and one of the flanges on the middle section, there is possible repair with possible repatination to another lower edge of one side of the foot, and to a small (1/4-1/2 inch) area below the middle section of the vessel, there are some surface scratches near the repaired areas and also to the interior sides of the vessel, under UV light, the majority of the areas of suspected repair have some fluorescence, and there are a few scattered small dots of adhesive on the surface which also fluoresce; the surface having areas of malachite encrustation with traces of cuprite and azurite
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Archaic ritual bronze vessels of the importance of this fangzun and the related fangyi (lot 70), rarely come onto the market. The two vessels bear the same inscription and were obviously cast at the same t.mes for the same patron and for the same occasion. It is not often that two bronzes of the same set are still preserved together, three thousand years after they were cast, and the shapes of these two vessels are in themselves extremely rare, especially the fangzun. The fangyi is particularly attractive since it has areas of its original golden sheen remaining.

The two vessels have a very famous counterpart, of similar shape and decoration, in a set of three square vessels, known as the Ri Ji fangzun, Ri Ji fangyi and Ri Ji gong, which were discovered in a Western Zhou hoard at Qijiacun, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, and are now in the Shaanxi History Museum, Xi'an. These three pieces have been frequently published, for example in Shaanxi chutu Shang Zhou qingtongqi (Bronzes of Shang and Zhou Dynasties Unearthed in Shaanxi Province), vol.2, Beijing, 1980, pls. 120-22, and in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol.5, Beijing, 1996, pls. 162-3, 135-6, and 107-8, respectively, and were included in the first major exhibition of archaeological material from China in the West, The Genius of China, Royal Academy, London, 1973-4, cat.nos. 92, 93, and 90.

The Ri Ji fangzun has similar masks with inward curved horns around the center, very similar near-abstract animal motifs at the neck, together with a border of birds, and another bird border instead of the semi-abstract animal motifs at the foot; but it lacks the leiwen background pattern.

The Ri Ji fangyi also has central masks closely comparable to those on the present fangyi, but more dissolved masks at the cover, bird borders again at cover and foot, and is also lacking leiwen. It is further more angular in shape.

Jessica Rawson discusses this and other sets of square zun and yi, which come with and without matching gong, in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler collects ions, Washington, D.C., 1990, pp. 68-73 and attributes them to the early part of the middle Western Zhou, i.e. the early 10th century B.C.

Only one other fangzun ever appears to have been sold at auction.  That fangzun, sold in our London rooms, 7th April 1981, lot 72, is of a very different type, decorated with three narrow bands of gui dragons only instead of an overall design. A fangyi of very similar form and decoration, also with an inscription (unpublished) inside both vessel and cover, formerly with Dr. Otto Burchard & Co., Berlin, was offered in a liquidation sale of the company's stock of Chinese art at Paul Graupe, Berlin, 29th April 1935, lot 1124, where it is illustrated in the catalogue, pl. 9, and was later in the collects ion of Paulette Goddard Remarque, and offered in our London rooms, 13th December 1977, lot 207.

The seven-character inscriptions read Ying X zuo zong bao zun yi (X of the Ying clan has made this precious ritual vessel for the ancestral temple), the second character being composed of known elements but undeciphered.