A PAIR OF CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZE PEAR-SHAPED VASES, HU

EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY

Each raised on a short foot and surmounted by a waisted gently flaring neck, the bodies decorated in relief with grids of tied rope, each with two handles formed as stylised mythical beasts suspending loose rings, one with a small paper label which reads ren shui, each with an inscription to the base reading 'T P 12930 53548 C B I?', 33cm, 3.8kg and 4kg. (2)

Provenance: from the collection of the late Hubert René Joseph Georges Faure (1919-2020), by repute acquired in the first half of the 20th century. Hubert Faure was the first husband of Elizabeth (Bessie) de Cuevas, who married when she was nineteen. Bessie was the daughter of Margaret Rockefeller, granddaughter of John D Rockefeller.

Cf. J So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M Sackler Collections, pp.244-245, no.41 for a comparable Eastern Zhou hu; see also pp.217-219 and pp.246-247 for further bronze vessels with similar 'rope grid' designs; see also G W Weber Jr, The Ornaments of Late Chou Bronzes: A Method of Analysis, pp.200-201, no.37 for another related bronze with 'rope' decoration in the collection of the Musée Guimet, Paris; see also Sotheby's London, 2nd March 1971, lot 55 for another similar vase dated to the late Zhou dynasty.