Gui food vessel

The name Kuei for this vessel type is well established in the early literature. The surfaces of the vessel are divided into four vertical panels by four flanges on the foot, two flanges and two handles on the body. These narrow, thin flanges contrast contrast sharply with the heavy handles and their massive bovine heads. The principal figures in the decor, executed in low relief except for the strongly protruding eyes, are so covered with adorning lines that they tend to merge with the ground of squared spirals. In the foot belt are rudimentary t'ao-t'ieh masks, the central line formrd by two of the flanges, and two consecutive, head-turning dragons with C-shaped horns. The mask t'ao-t'ieh on the belly, with ordinary features strongly detatched, is flanked by vertical dragons. The flanges form the centers of two such t'ao-tieh, the handles of two other masks in which the face (nose and hooked forehead shield) has been cleft, leavint an interstice as broad as the handles between the two halves. This space under the handles is decorated with a bovine head in flat relief, thus creating a small t'ao-t'ieh inside a larger one. The neck belt displays dragons with oversized beaks. Patina blackish.