When it comes to Chinese art, the best provenance is arguably that from the illustrious emperors. During this Asia Week New York, Sotheby's brought to collectors one such desired object: the 3,000-year-old Zhou Zha Hu, a highly important archaic bronze once cherished by the Qianlong Emperor and housed within the Forbidden City.
Towering with an imposing presence at 58.5 cm, the bronze is half of a pair of intricately designed ritual wine vessels; its companion piece now resides in the Palace Museum in Taipei, absent its cover. Notable for its long description, over the centuries the vessel has been extensively documented and studied by generations of scholars and collectors.
Offered at Sotheby's Chinese Art Sale, this headline lot attracted interest from six collectors; after six minutes of bidding, it went to the Hong Kong-based Huaihaitang Collection for US$5.4 million with fees.
The Huaihaitang Collection will exhibit the Zhou Zha Hu at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 2026 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Min Chiu Society, a top-notch and internationally acclaimed group of elite collectors dedicated to enhancing appreciation for Chinese cultural treasures.
(Left) Cheung Kee Wee, the owner of the Huaihaitang Collection
Lot 33 | The Zhou Zha Hu | An extremely important archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover
Middle Western Zhou dynasty, 10th - 9th century B.C.
Cast to the mouth of the vessel and lip of the cover with a twenty-four character inscription (2)
Height: 58.5 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Qing Gaozong, Aisin Gioro Hongli, the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795)
- Qing Court Collection
- Collection of Zhou Qingyun (1864-1933)
Estimate: US$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: US$4,500,000
Sold: US$5,400,000
The fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty, Emperor Qianlong ruled China from 1735 to 1796. Under his reign, China became the largest and most powerful empire in East Asia. But besides his military and political prowess, the Emperor was equally renowned for his passion for Chinese art: from calligraphies and paintings to jades, ceramics, and archaic bronzes, he assembled some of the largest collections of the time.
In 1749, he commissioned a group of imperial scholars to measure, depict, and write entries for the vast trove of bronzes in his collection. This labor-consuming project took a total of sixty years to complete, culminating in four of the most comprehensive official catalogues of their kind. Known together as "Qianlong's Four Catalogues," they provided visual documentation and details of more than 4,000 bronze objects, in an era without photography and digital archives.
Today, works listed within this set of four imperial bronze catalogues have been highly sought-after by collectors for their royal lineage. Very few vessels preserved outside of the two Palace Museums, however, can be identified as having been recorded in the catalogues, all the more so of those remaining in private hands. Zhou Zha Hu is duly listed in volume 19 of the first catalogue, the forty-volume Xiqing gujian [Catalogue of Antiques in the Xiqing Pavilion].
Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor in Court Dress | Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
The vessel and inscription of the present hu are recorded in Xiqing gujian [Catalogue of Antiques in the Xiqing Pavilion]
The twin vessel of Zhou Zha Hu, listed in volume 22 in the first sequel of the book, Xiqing xujian jiabian [Supplement A to Xiqing gujian], is now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Taipei, with its cover missing.
Interestingly, Zhou Zha Hu's cover would match what is documented in the index of its companion piece, suggesting the current cover may well have been originally placed on top of its sister vessel when they were in the Imperial Palace. It is speculated by scholars that the covers were swapped after leaving the imperial collection.
As for the other cover, its whereabouts remain a mystery. Traces of evidence from compilations of antique bronzes published in the early 20th century indicate it was once in the collection of Ding Yanchen (1829-1873), a Qing official and epigraphist known by the art name Xiaonong, but other than that, the trail appears to run dry.
The cover of the present hu is recorded on its companion vessel's index
Zhou Zhu Ha’s twin vessel now resides in the Palace Museum in Taipei
Its prestigious royal provenance aside, Zhou Zha Hu is particularly remarkable for its twenty-four-character inscription, which records the vessel's origin and, more importantly, reveals part of a faded history of ancient China.
The meaning of the inscription in ancient script on the vessel and cover is pretty straightforward: Zhou Zha commissioned this hu vessel for his father Ri Ji to be used during ritual and ceremonies in their ancestral hall, to be treasured eternally for ten thousand years by his sons and grandsons. The last character is a clan pictogram, identifying the family to which Zhou Zha belonged: Zhou.
With this vessel dating the Middle Western Zhou dynasty, it would have been natural to assume its owner belonged to a member of the powerful Zhou clan that defeated the last king of the Shang dynasty and established an empire over the land of China. Two subtle references, though, suggest otherwise and piqued the interests of scholars over the centuries: the clan pictogram, and the name of Zhou Zha's father, Ri Ji.
The inscription on the vessel
The inscription on the cover
An ink rubbing of the twenty-four-character inscription on the cover of Zhou Zha Hu
Since the Shang dynasty, bronzes had been associated with power. They were made exclusively for the very wealthy elite and played an essential role in the ritual banquets that took place over ceremonial tombs or in family temples.
While the Shang aristocrats had the tradition of including clan pictograms in bronze inscriptions, this practice was not embraced by the Zhou people of the new empire. What would also be abandoned by the Zhou was the inclusion of celestial stems in their name – a custom that came from the Shang people's belief in ancestral and natural spirits. Yet, the second character of the name of Zhou Zha's father, Ji (己), appears to be the sixth celestial stem.
And so the question comes: who was this noble Zhou clan, if not the royal house that would come to power only later?
Based on a group of related oracle bone inscriptions and archaic bronze inscriptions, scholars were able to come to a conclusion – it was one of the ancient tribes from the Shang dynasty.
Back in the Shang dynasty, this Zhou clan lived in the region of Zhouyuan in today's Shaanxi province, while the royal Zhou, then known as the Ji clan, was resident in a place called Bin. Having suffered from continuous attacks, the Ji clan decided to migrate to where the Zhou clan was living. They would beat the natives and rule over their settlement, taking the name of Zhou.
Although defeated, the native Zhou clan co-resided with the newcomers and remained active throughout the late Shang period. As the dynasty changed, they could not only keep their earlier customs and traditions, but also enjoyed the aristocratic privileges of the Zhou noble class, including holding rituals for their Shang ancestors, as evidenced by Zhou Zha Hu.
The handles of Zhou Zha Hu are decorated with bird designs, a typical decorative motif of Western Zhou ritual bronzes
The principal motif of the vessel is an auspicious bird
Lot 34 | Tai Xiangzhou | The Zhou Zha Hu, Ink on paper, framed
Created in 2024
121 x 62 cm
Estimate: US$30,000 - 50,000
Hammer Price: US$70,000
Sold: US$84,000
In honoring the significant Zhou Zha Hu, Chinese contemporary artist Tai Xiangzhou has especially dedicated an ink painting to the vessel. Going under the hammer right after Zhou Zha Hu, the work eventually hammered for double its low estimate at US$70,000, notching US$84,000 with fees.
Born in 1968, Tai Xiangzhou is an ink artist, scholar, and collector of ancient bronzes, paintings, and rock sculptures. In paintings, Tai's focus is on reviving the idealistic forms of traditional Chinese landscape paintings by expanding his creations' perspectives into cosmology, astrology, and how they intertwine with the aesthetics of painting.
His work is in the collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; the Sackler Museum, Harvard University and the Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, Beijing University, and other major private collections – including that of Elon Musk, Tesla's founder.
Tai Xiangzhou
Other Highlight Lots:
Lot 20 | An extremely large and rare famille-rose figure of Puxian seated on an elephant
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Height: 69.5 cm
Provenance:
- American Private Collection, until 1970s
Estimate: US$500,000 - 700,000
Hammer Price: US$1,030,000
Sold: US$1,236,000
Lot 151 | A ruby-ground 'yangcai' sgraffiato 'lotus' vase
Seal mark and period of Qianlong
Height: 25.5 cm
Provenance (Supplemented by The Value):
- Asian Private Collection
- Christie's Hong Kong, 29th November 2022, lot 3007 (Sold: HK$1,638,000)
Estimate: US$300,000 - 500,000
Hammer Price: US$830,000
Sold: US$996,000
Lot 13 | A rare and large doucai jardinière
Seal mark and period of Qianlong
Diameter: 33 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet, 1st Viscount Monserrate (1817-1901)
- Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, 2nd Baronet (1844-1920)
- Collection of Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd Baronet (1868-1939)
- Collection of Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Baronet (1907-1978), until 1946
- Leiria & Nascimento, Casa Liquidadora, 'Auction of the Contents of the Monserrate Palace', 9th November 1946
- Portuguese Private Collection
- Cabral Moncada Leilões, Lisbon, 27th September 2016, lot 425
Estimate: US$300,000 - 500,000
Hammer Price: US$450,000
Sold: US$540,000
Lot 8 | An extremely rare Jun-imitation vase (Tianqiuping)
Seal mark and period of Yongzheng
Height: 52 cm
Provenance:
- Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
- Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 5th November 1977, lot 219
Estimate: US$150,000 - 250,000
Hammer Price: US$500,000
Sold: US$480,000
Lot 35 | A rare archaic jade ceremonial axe (Yue)
Neolithic period - Zhou dynasty
Length: 18.2 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald (1902-1982), acquired in Beijing circa 1939
Estimate: US$200,000 - 300,000
Hammer Price: US$320,000
Sold: US$384,000
Lot 24 | A pair of large cloisonné-enamel 'lion and foreigner' censers
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Width: 54.5 cm
Provenance:
- Frank Caro, successor to C.T. Loo, New York, December 1960
- Collection of Mrs. Amon G. Carter, Jr. (1927-2022)
Estimate: US$250,000 - 350,000
Hammer Price: US$240,000
Sold: US$288,000
Lot 18 | An extremely rare imperial turquoise-inlaid gold filigree twin box and cover
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Width: 10.8 cm
Weight: 195.6 g
Provenance:
- Commissioned by Bao Tai (active ca. 1780) for the Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) in 1783
- Qing Court Collection
- Parish-Watson & Company, Inc., Chicago, 1934
- American Private Collection, acquired by 1972, and thence by descent
Estimate: US$60,000 - 80,000
Hammer Price: US$180,000
Sold: US$216,000
Lot 10 | A rare yellow-ground green-enameled famille-rose 'bats and cloud' bowl
Mark and period of Yongzheng
Diameter: 15.2 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of John Oswald Liddell (1858-1918), and thence by descent
Estimate: US$60,000 - 80,000
Hammer Price: US$180,000
Sold: US$216,000
Lot 144 | A wucai 'dragon and phoenix' dish
Mark and period of Kangxi
Diameter: 32 cm
Estimate: US$20,000 - 30,000
Hammer Price: US$85,000
Sold: US$102,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby's New York
Sale: Chinese Art
Date: 18 September 2024
Number of Lots: 269
Sold: 195
Unsold: 74
Sale Rate: 72.5%
Sale Total: US$15,282,2120