Vase you 卣

Anonyme

Inscription: Gui of the Wei clan
Kui-type dragons facing each other decorate each of the bands on this powerful piece used to contain fermented beverages. Those on the belly, with a curving jaw, tail coiled outwards and clawed feet form a taotie mask with particularly impressive large protruding eyes.
Vadime Elisseeff lists several bronzes that are comparable to the Cernuschi Museum you. One specimen, in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, differs only in a few details, including the motifs on the side of the lid.
Several other very similar vases, reputed to come from Anhui or Zhejiang provinces, were adorned with small jade objects when they were buried. It is likely, however, that this type of round-bellied, oval-section you, featuring ridges in high relief and a handle, missing on the Cernuschi Museum vessel, was made in northern China and exported to the south. It appears to have been produced a century after the capital was established in Anyang.