A RARE BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, YOU, WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 10TH CENTURY BC

Scientific Analysis Report: A certificate issued by Re. S. Artes on 18 February 2026, no. R 146031A-2, based on the analysis of a sample taken from the foot rim which was observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), finds that the bronze exhibits natural wear, long-time weathering, and corrosion that penetrates deeply into the metal, which have occurred since the casting and point to an age of about 3000 years, consistent with the dating above. The contents of the alloy do not include any modern elements, further confirming the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies the lot.

Expert’s note: Pairs of large confronted birds, prominently displaying flamboyant plumed crests and tails encircling the head and body, fill the space on both sides of this exceptional bronze vessel. In the evolution of this particular motif the birds represented on this you appear at the height in the middle of the Western Zhou dynasty. During the Anyang phase of the Shang dynasty, small birds occupied secondary positions in subordinate registers in the overall designs of ritual bronzes. Only in the early part of the Western Zhou period did bird motifs suddenly appear in more prominent placements on ritual vessels. Parallel to the bird motifs moving to central positions on bronzes, the sizes and forms of birds changed, an adaptation that may have been linked to new vessel shapes such as you and gui. Tall birds with arched plumes and tails appear on vessels of more generous rounded proportions such as the present you whose forms they enhanced. On vessels such as the present you, confronted pairs of large birds with arched plumage create a continuous, fluid movement that presents a stark contrast to the angular compartmented designs on Shang and early Western Zhou bronzes.
Vessels cast with this particular type of large, flamboyant bird designs are exceedingly rare. Compare a bronze gui dated 10^th century BC at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2010, lot 878. See also a dong gui unearthed in 1975 from a tomb at Zhuangbai village, Fufeng county, dated mid-Western Zhou, in the Fufeng County Museum, illustrated in Ji jin zhu guo shi: Zhouyuan chu tu Xi Zhou qing tong qi jing cui (Fine Western Zhou bronzes unearthed from Zhouyuan), 2002, cover and p. 272-281.

China. The vessel of oval section rises from a broad, flaring foot to a gently tapering neck, the shoulders applied with a pair of protruding tangs. The rounded body is cast on each side with large confronting mythical birds, with bulbous eyes, each shown in profile standing on pronounced talons, with raised head, coiled beak, long trailing crest and upswept tail, below a narrow band of further pairs of birds confronted on animal masks, their long crests arched forward over their heads and their long tails trailing behind, all on leiwen grounds warping along the contours of the body.

Provenance: Weisbrod Chinese Art, New York, USA, acquired circa in the 1990s and held until 2007. Thereafter in an art storage facility in New Jersey, and deaccessioned in 2025. Michael B. Weisbrod is a noted scholar of Chinese art, who has published extensively on the subject over a time span of more than 50 years. In 1972, Michael joined his father Dr. Gerald Weisbrod’s Asian art gallery in Toronto, Canada. The father-and-son team opened their New York location on Madison Avenue in 1977, and during the next 45 years the gallery held a significant number of exhibitions, selling to museums and private collectors across the globe, eventually adding further locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Condition: Good original condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, casting irregularities, signs of weathering and erosion, soil encrustations and deposits, areas of corrosion, losses, nicks. The bronze covered in a thick, vibrant, naturally grown patina with extensive malachite, cuprite, and azurite encrustations. Note: The vessel remains in its untreated finding condition, having been kept in the Weisbrod family for some time without any restoration or intervention; only natural wax was later applied for preservation. It is accompanied by a small bag of bronze shards, apparently found together with the vessel and possibly the remnants of its cover.

Weight: 2,816 g (excl. shards), 3,029 g (incl. shards)
Dimensions: Height 20.5 cm, Width 25.5 cm

The you was one of the most important wine vessels of the late Shang and Zhou period, and along with other bronze vessels made for holding food and wine, was part of the important ritual paraphernalia used at the ceremonies and banquets of the upper echelons of society. However, by the end of the Middle Western Zhou, the you, along with other wine vessels, such as zun and jue, had disappeared from the repertoire of bronze vessels used for ritual purposes.

The elaborate birds which so elegantly fill and follow the elliptical shape of this vessel reflect a decorative scheme introduced into central China during the Western Zhou period. By the middle of the Western Zhou period, large bird motifs with arching crests and tails had become an important design element on rounded vessels, such as you, the ribbon-like plumage following and enhancing the shape of the vessels. Jessica Rawson who describes the evolution of the bird motif on Western Zhou bronzes, notes that during the middle Western Zhou period large plumed birds motifs on vessels such as gui and you formed a small but influential series and enjoyed comparatively short-lived popularity (see Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1990, pp. 79-80).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 16 September 2010, lot 859
Price: USD 1,986,500 or approx. EUR 2,467,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, you, Middle Western Zhou dynasty, 10^th century BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting, form, and motifs with similar confronted birds and applied animal masks. Note the much larger height (29.2 cm) and the cover.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 22 March 2011, lot 33
Price: USD 152,000 or approx. EUR 185,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare archaic bronze ritual food vessel (you), Shang dynasty, 12^th-11^th century BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and form with a similar flaring foot and rounded body. Note the size (17.1 cm) and different motif on the body.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s London, 4 November 2020, lot 137
Price: GBP 201,600 or approx. EUR 300,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare large archaic bronze ritual food vessel, gui, Western Zhou dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and motifs with similar confronted birds. Note the size (35 cm) and different form.