1-233-717 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Bronze gui with animal head handles, late Western Zhou dynasty, China, 9th-8th century BC. A bronze gui vessel decorated with horizontal grooves between borders of alternating large and small intaglio scales at the neck, on the lid and on the footring, which has three small feet. The lid features a lengthy inscription. Two U-shaped handles on each side are crowned by animal heads with coiled horns. The surface of the bronze is a rough grey-green with extensive red patches of cuprite. Sets of identical gui vessels were made in the Western Zhou period and the greater the set the higher the rank of the family they were made for.