NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s New York will present Shang: Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes from the Daniel Shapiro Collection, a dedicated live auction on 18 March 2021. The sale features exceptional examples from China's formative Shang bronze culture from a renowned American collection formed over a span of twenty-five years. These sophisticated pieces provide a glimpse into the spiritual world and mysterious rituals of China's ancient culture and are among the world's most extraordinary works of art. Two of the sale’s highlights will be unveiled in Hong Kong beginning 27 November 2020.

Leading the sale is The Luboshez Gong (estimate: $4-6 million), a magnificent and highly important bronze ritual wine vessel. Dating to the 13th-12th century BC, the vessel combines a pouncing tiger with a standing owl forming a powerful, fantastic creature. Acquired by Captain S.N. Ferris Luboshez in Shanghai in 1948, few similar examples are known, one of which is in the Harvard Art Museums. Also of special interest is a rare ritual wine vessel with cover, fangyi, formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Mottahedeh. The fangyi, a distinctive rectangular shape with elegantly tapered sides and a delicately rounded lid, is boldly decorated with striking taotie masks, flanked by a pair of long-tailed birds and confronting dragons divided by subtle flanges.

This important collection was published in the dedicated tome Ancient Chinese Bronzes (2013) with essays by leading American scholars: Robert D. Jacobsen, Chair of the Department of Asian Art Emeritus, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Robert D. Mowry, Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus Harvard Art Museums and Thomas Lawton, Director Emeritus, Freer Gallery of Art.

Highlights

THE LUBOSHEZ GONG. AN EXCEPTIONAL AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND COVER. LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 13th-12th CENTURY BC Luboshez舊藏 晚商 安陽時期 青銅虎鳥獸紋觥, 11 ¾ in. (29.8 cm.) long. Estimate: $4,000,000 – 6,000,000

A VERY RARE BRONZE RITUAL RECTANGULAR WINE VESSEL AND COVER, FANGYI LATE SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 12TH CENTURY BC 晚商 安陽時期 青銅饕餮紋方彝, 8 ¾ in. (22 cm.) high. Estimate: $600,000-800,000