The Fu Ding YouLate Shang / Early Western Zhou dynasty商末 / 西周初 父丁卣cast to the interior of the vessel and cover with a three-character inscription reading X Fu Ding (2)銘文：□ 父丁Height 9⅝ in., 24.5 cm来源: DescriptionThe Fu Ding YouLate Shang / Early Western Zhou dynasty商末 / 西周初 父丁卣cast to the interior of the vessel and cover with a three-character inscription reading X Fu Ding(2)銘文：□父丁Height 9⅝ in., 24.5 cmCondition reportBecause this lot was imported into the United States after September 1, 2020, it is subject to an import tariff of 7.5% of the value declared upon entry into the United States. $9,375, plus applicable sales tax will be included on your invoice unless you instruct Sotheby's to arrange shipping of the lot to a foreign address. For more information on the import tariff, please review the Symbol Key in the back of the catalogue. If you have any questions, please contacttariffs@sothebys.com.由於本拍品在 2020年9月1日之後進口到美國，所以買家可能需就本拍品支付進口關稅，金額為拍品進口美國當時申報價值的7.5％。除非您要求蘇富比安排運送拍品到美國境外之地址，否則發票上將包括9,375美元以及相關的銷售稅。如欲查詢進口關稅的更多信息，請查閱目錄背面的附錄。 如有任何疑問，敬請聯繫tariffs@sothebys.com。For more information on and additional videos for this lot, please contact serina.wei@sothebys.com.ProvenanceSotheby's New York, 4th December 1984, lot 17.紐約蘇富比1984年12月4日，編號17LiteratureY.P. Lee, Important Inscribed Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Li Yingshuan Collection in the Shanghai Museum, vol. II, Shanghai,1996, pl. 40.李爾白，《李蔭軒所藏中國青銅器》，卷2，上海，1996年，圖版40Catalogue noteIt is rare to find a you flanked by a pair of rhinoceros heads, and even rarer to find one cast with the motif of confronting birds; the combination of both makes this you exceptional. This unusual vessel bears two three-character inscriptions, one to the interior of the vessel, the other to the interior of the lid, indicating that the vessel was dedicated to Father Ding. The pictogram identifies the clan, to which the owner of this vessel belonged.This highly graphical clan sign does not appear to be associated with a modern Chinese character.Only two other you of this confronting-bird design appear to be published. A taller you with an eight-character inscription with decorative bands closely related to this vessel, but lacking the leiwen pattern on the foot, of elongated form and the handle with animal masks of different shape, was sold in our London rooms, 11th June 1996, lot 117. See also the Ge Fu Gui You 戈父癸卣, with decorations on the lid and the shoulder similar to the present piece, but with an extra pair of birds on each side, excavated in 1991 from Gaojiabu, Jingyang county, Shaanxi province, now in the Jingyang Museum, Shaanxi province, illustrated in Li Xixing, The Shaanxi Bronzes, Xi'an, 1994, pl. 155.A few you vessels with rhinoceros-head terminals on the handle are in museum collections. Two of them are in the Palace Museum, Beijing: the Si Si Yang Qi You 四祀弋阝其卣, a large and important you excavated at Anyang, Henan province, with a 42-character long inscription on the baserecording that the vessel was made in the4th year of the lastkingof the Shang dynasty, the lid, handle and foot decorated with leiwen andthe shoulder with a band of taotie pattern, illustrated in Gugong qingtong qi / Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pl. 65; and the Dao Fu Xin You 刀父辛卣 (accession no. gu-77010), from the Qing Court Collection, included in Yan Yiping, Jinwen zongji [Corpus of Bronze Inscriptions], Taipei, 1983, no. 5169. Compare a further you from the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (accession no. B60B82), where the lid and shoulder are decorated with a taotie frieze composed of triple-tiered scrolls, illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre D'Argencé, Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl. XXXV (right).