Landmark ritual bronze vessel returns home to China

[Photo: the Changchun-based City Evening News]

As appearances by Chinese collectors in international auctions steadily increase, the rate at which lost Chinese treasures return to China is also accelerating.

Christie's official website announced on Wednesday the purchase of the "Min" Fanglei, a massive bronze ritual wine vessel dating back to the late Shang (C.1600-1046BC) and early Western Zhou Dynasties (1046-771BC), by a group of private collectors from China's Hunan Province after a close consultation with the owner of the vessel a day before it would have been auctioned.

According to Tan Guobin, one of the members of the group that purchased the vessel, the treasure will be donated to the Hunan Provincial Museum within two months, in order to unite the vessel with its lid which is located in the museum.

According to an explanation on the Hunan Provincial Museum website, both pieces were originally discovered by a farmer in Hunan in 1922, but were later separated. The body of the vessel went on to become well known publicly by appearing in the hands of different collectors including John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937), while the lid was later collected by the Hunan Provincial Museum in 1956.

Nearly 64 centimeters in height, the vessel is cast with stylized animals and monster masks indicating the culture and beliefs of the period. Meanwhile, crisp and precise casting of the complicated designs on the vessel demonstrate the advanced techniques used to cast Chinese ritual bronze vessels during the late Shang and early Zhou period.

First auctioned in 2001 at Christie's New York, the vessel not only set a record for Chinese art works, but all Asian art works at that time by selling for $9.25 million. Even today, it still holds the record for the highest priced ancient Chinese bronze vessel to be sold at an auction.