Ram-shaped wine vessel up for sale

An extremely rare, ram-shaped ritualistic wine vessel from China is to go under the hammer in London this November.

The ram dates from the Qing Dynasty and is based on the bronze prototype of an important ritualistic wine vessel, dating from the 13-11th century BC

The bronze object, which hails from China, is estimated to fetch between £4000 and £6000 when it features a sale of Asian Art at Chiswick Auctions in London on November 14.

The piece dates from the Qing Dynasty (18^th century) and is based on the bronze prototype of an important ritualistic wine vessel, dating from the 13-11^th century BC.

Aside from the ram-form of this vessel being extremely rare, this particular piece is thought to have been specially-commissioned by the Imperial Court as a yangzun, or a purely ornamental, non-functional ritualistic wine vessel.

Lazarus Halstead, head of Chiswick Auctions Asian Art department, said: “The trend towards archaism in the 18^th Century reinvigorated Chinese art, and pieces of this type, known within the Imperial collection, perfectly balance the dignity of archaic bronzes with the lifelike exuberance of contemporary Imperial artisans.”

The earliest example of a vessel in this form, which closely resembles this model, is in the National Palace Museum of Taiwan and dates from the Ming Dynasty (13^th-17^th century).

The example in the sale sits alongside two other known 18^th century examples, both within important collections, one is a cloisonnѐ enamel yangzun, from the Palace Museum collection in Beijing and the other is a bronze model in the Cernuschi Museum in Paris.

The ram is decorated all over and stands four-square, with its head pushed forward. It would probably have been supported by a wheeled platform, as in other examples of the period.