A rare Chinese archaic bronze ritual food vessel, Yu, late Shang dynasty, the deep bowl...

A rare Chinese archaic bronze ritual food vessel, Yu, late Shang dynasty, the deep bowl cast with a band of raised bosses and taotie masks interspersed with archaistic dragons, the body decorated with protruding studs enclosed within a diamond trellis ground of elongated leiwen-pattern, the splayed foot decorated with two taotie masks on a leiwen ground, 16.5cm high, 25.4cm diameter

Provenance: Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London, 22 March 2001

Note: Yu archaic bronze food vessels were popular during the late Shang dynasty in the Yinxu Period, circa 13th 11th centuries BC, and are formed as a round bowl raised by a ringed foot. Unlike the gui food vessel which was prevalent during the succeeding Western Zhou dynasty, yu do not have ringed handles. These were used for making offering of grains and vegetables in ancestral rituals, often accompanied by the tripod ding vessel used for cooking meats.

The striking combination of diamond cartouches and boss decoration, as seen on the present lot, appear to have been particularly admired and used on various shaped vessels in Shaanxi province during the Yinxu or Anyang period. Excavated examples are illustrated and discussed by R. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, 1987, pp.504-507, no.98, and pp.510-14, nos.100 and 101. It is evident a wide variety of decorative elements, of different designs and in various levels of relief, were used to demonstrate the high level of casting and skillful techniques bronze craftsmen at Shang foundries achieved by this period. .