AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, LI, LATE WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTYExhibited: According to label ‘Univ Museum Exhibition C10 4-33’ exhibited at Treasures of the Chinese Scholar, Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, USA, 1997, and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, USA, 1998.China, 9th-7th century BC. Thepressed body raised on three legs with flat, partially open backs, each leg positioned below a notched flange centering pairs of stylized confronting dragons, the flat everted rim undecorated. The bronze with a superb, naturally grown, rich patina with distinct malachite and azurite encrustations.Provenance: Sotheby’s New York, 28-29 November 1994, lot 202 (dated late Shang to early Western Zhou dynasty). Lacquered with an inventory number, ‘L-1042-145’, indicating a prior museum deaccession. The Ji Zhen Zhai Collection, Dr. John Fong, acquired from the above. The underside of one foot with two labels, ‘Ji Zhen Zhai Collection’ and ‘Univ Museum Exhibition C10 4-33’. John K. Fong (Fang Jinpei) was a psychiatrist and Professor of Archaeology at The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, USA. He studied and collected Chinese art for more than 25 years, developing the Ji Zhen Zhai (Studio of Accumulated Treasures) Collection. He curated the exhibition Treasures of the Chinese Scholar, which first opened at the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, USA, in 1997 and then moved to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in 1998.Condition: Superb original condition,mensurate with age, with no fills or restorations. As expected with minor nicks and small losses, signs of weathering and corrosion, soil encrustations.Weight: 1,215 gDimensions: Diameter 17 cm, Height 12.5 cmExpert’s note: Decorated with a shallow yet crisp design of taotie masks or S-shaped dragons, vessels of this type were discovered in Fufeng, Shaanxi Provence.Literatureparison:Compare a closely related bronze li, 13 cm high, dated to the Western Zhou dynasty, ca. 8th-7th century BC, in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S1987.351, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, 1990, pp. 328-329, no. 29.Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1251Price: USD 62,500 or approx.EUR 75,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A Bronze Ritual Tripod Food Vessel, Liding, Late Western Zhou Dynasty, 8th Century BCExpert remark:pare the closely related form, flanges, and dragon decoration. Note the near-identical diameter (18 cm).Auction resultparison:Type: RelatedAuc