Beschreibung:

AN EXTREMELY RARE AND IMPORTANT ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND COVER, (FANGJIA) Late Shang Dynasty, 13th - 11th Century BC the robustly cast body of square section with a bombé S-profile curving up to a flared rim set with a pair of pyramidal-shaped finials, all four sides crisply cast in low-relief, one main side cast with a loop handle issuing out from the mouth of a bovine mask linking to another animal mask cast in low-relief with bulbous eyes and curled horns, below a pair of addorsed dragons and four sun whorls, all set against a squared leiwen ground, the three other sides adorned with sculpturally and strikingly rendered central owl heads with saucer-like beady eyes staring out from below bushy brows and perked ears, all centered by a sharp beak and flanked by a pair of confronting dragons, the feathered body, wings and talons finely articulated and set against a leiwen ground, the main side cast with a further pair of confronting snakes flanking the owl, all supported on four powerful splayed blade-like legs each cast with a pair of deconstructed dragons and leiwen, the flat rectangular cover surmounted by a pair of addorsed openwork birds encircled by four pairs of confronting birds around the edge cast in low-relief each within a rectangular panel against a leiwen ground, the surface covered with a smooth green malachite patina with traces of cinnabar, the base of the interior cast with a single pictogram (2) Quantity: 2 12 1/8 by 8 by 7 3/8 in., 30.7 by 20.4 by 18.8 cm