LOT 147: A GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE ARCHAISTIC STEAMER, SONG TO MING DYNASTY

Here we have today a very large and very heavy bronze vessel. It's a steamer. It dates back to the late Song or early Ming Dynasty, probably rather Song Dynasty. And it's from Dr. David McKay originally, who is a noted collector who's gifted a very important garlic vase from the Wanli period to the Victorian Albert Museum. And this is from his personal collection and among other pieces, of course. And it has these very distinct masks that originate in the Shang Dynasty. And it was a short period in the late Song to Yuan era, 13th to earlier 14th century, where these vessels were made as closely as possible to resemble the Shang Dynasty counterparts that were rediscovered for the first time back then. And, of course, they impressed a lot of people and inspired a lot of artists. And so in the beginning, people tried to really imitate the Shang Dynasty counterparts. So there's even one that also has gold inlays like this one. We see here a lot of, besides a naturally grown, dark chocolate brown patina with lots of malachite encrustations and cuprite encrustations, almost like the actually ancient vessels, because this is already probably 800 years old. But then it has silver and gold inlays. And, of course, in Shang Dynasty, they rarely ever had inlays. There's one in the National Palace Museum that has gold inlays but may have been added later. It's really disputed. It's also a steamer. And then, of course, there are several of these vessels. There's, for instance, a smaller one which lacks the upper part. It's just a small part that sold at just recently a Sotheby's for 35,000 euros last year, which also lacks most of these inlays. It's much smaller and doesn't have. Everything here, as you can see, is inlaid in silver. We didn't clean the silver because we think it deters to the overall appearance of these birds and the manifold, these blades here with the Tao Te masks, which all come in high, rarely ever, and specifically the highly expressive strength of these masks and ears and eyes that are surrounded around those legs. So we left it pretty much exactly as it was for the last 100 years, uncleaned, unpolished, 100% original. Of course, silver can be cleaned very easily. All you need is a little polish and a little alcohol. Other examples is, for example, a large Yu with 30 centimeters, not as large as this one here. This is almost 32 centimeters. That sold for 116,000 euros. And another one is, of course, a Gui, also 28 centimeters, not as large as this one, sold for 380,000 euros. So there's quite a few of these around. There's also a steamer, but this one lacks the inlays completely. It was sold at Bonham's for 50,000 euros. So it's interesting to note that the popularity of the oldest Shang Dynasty imitation vessels that themselves are 800 years old, the market has really been very aggressive on this kind of pieces lately because they're so incredibly attractive. The craftsmanship is so superior. The reliefs are so sharp and so well cast, and the inlays are so nicely preserved that we think we have estimated this at 30,000 euros with a starting price of only 15,000. So given the really, really good provenance, it's probably a reasonable price still, especially if you compare the auction results. And so we think it's a good chance to acquire one of the earliest examples and one of the largest also and most well-preserved, excellent condition, at our upcoming auction on March 9 and March 10. This is going to be lot 147.