well cast with a slightly bulging midsection rising from a spreading foot to a trumpet neck with a flaring rim, decorated around the body in low relief with two bands of confronting kuilong interrupted by raised beast masks, all between double bowstrings, the surface with areas of malachite encrustation, wood stand, Japanese wood boxes (6) 

Collection of Hatta Seido. 
Osaka Bijutsu Kurabu (Osaka Art Club), Osaka, 23nd June 1928, lot 69.
The box for this lot is inscribed with a note by Zoroku Hata in 1922.

The well has three small patches (original to the time of casting), one issuing an approx. 6-cm crack. There is an approx. 6-cm Y-shaped vertical hairline crack to the exterior.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Distinctive for the two repeating bands around its body, the present lot belongs to a very small group of bronzes sharing this feature produced in the Western Zhou dynasty. See a closely related inscribed bronze zun of a smaller size, cast with a very similar design, formerly in the collection of the Qing dynasty calligrapher Qian Dian (1744-1806), currently in the Taito City Calligraphy Museum, Tokyo, published in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from Shang and Zhou Dynasties], vol. 21, Shanghai, 2012, no. 11563 (line drawing). An inscribed bronze zun of a smaller size, decorated with two repeating kuilong bands of a different style, excavated from a Western Zhou dynasty sacrificial tomb near Beijing, is illustrated in 'Excavation of the Western Chou Tombs of Immolated Slaves at Liuliho in Fangshan County', Kaogu, no. 5, 1974, pl. 8, fig. 4; another from the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, was sold at Christie's New York, 14th-15th September 2017, lot 905; and one with the kuilong design reserved on a leiwen ground, excavated from a Western Zhou dynasty tomb in Xiang county, Henan province, Zhengzhou, is published in Henan Provincial Museum, 'Excavation of the Western Chou Tomb at Hsianghsien, Honan Province', Wenwu, no. 8, 1977, pl.4, fig. 4.

Compare other related examples, including a slightly smaller bronze zun, cast with two similar kuilong bands and raised beast masks but to the top band only, excavated in Baoji, Shaanxi province, published in ibid., vol. 21, Shanghai, 2012, no. 11521, and together with a zun decorated with a band of kuilong and bird interrupted by raised beast heads, in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, no. 11646; a third cast with two bird bands and beast masks to the top band, illustrated in Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt and Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard, Chinese Art: Bronze, Jade, Sculpture, Ceramics, Oxford, 1980, pl. 13, and later sold in our London rooms, 19th June 1984, lot 21; and another with two bands of a slightly different design and beast masks to the top band, published in Jung Keng, Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies. The Bronzes of Shang and Chou, vol. II, Peiping, 1941, pl. 518.