3,000-year-old bottles of wine expected to fetch £2m at auction(2)
The second bronze vessel dates back to the early Western Zhou dynasty between 1050 to 900BC.
Expensive tipple: The ancient wine casks are being tipped to sell for a whopping £1million and £800,000 respectively. One of them, a rectangular fangyi vessel, dates back to the Chinese Shang dynasty between 1300 to 1050BC
It features masks, dragons and a rim of silkworms, horned mythical beasts and birds.
It is thought this had been taken out of China in the 1920s or 1930s by western missionary families.
They were bought in Canada, where the family lives, and are both being sold by auctioneers Bonhams.
Asaph Hyman, senior specialist in Chinese art at Bonhams, said: 'These two remarkable bronze pieces were among those collected by Mr J. Goldstein who emigrated in the from Poland to Canada.
'His younger brother fled Poland in 1939, was temporarily imprisoned in Siberia, but ended up in Shanghai where he lived until the end of the war.
'In Shanghai he was exposed to the Chinese culture.
'His survival, due to the goodness of the Chinese, influenced his openness to Chinese culture and could very well have been the root of his interest in Chinese art.
'After the war, members of the family were brought by Mr Goldstein to Canada, including his younger brother who brought with him his interest in Chinese art and that rubbed off on his sibling.
'With the creation of the rail roads in China in the 19th century, many archaeological sites were excavated and that’s how many of these pieces came to light.'
The auction takes place on May 12.
