EARLY SHANG DYNASTY, ERLIGANG PHASE, 16TH CENTURY BC

Details

AN EARLY BRONZE TRIPOD RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUE
EARLY SHANG DYNASTY, ERLIGANG PHASE, 16TH CENTURY BC
Thinly cast and raised on three slender blade supports, with elliptical domed body below a band of cast decoration on the upper body, consisting of a taotie mask on one side and two abstract dragons on the reverse confronted on the thin loop handle, the rim tapering to a point at one end opposite the narrow curved spout applied at the rim with two small posts, with dark grey patina and some malachite and earth encrustation
7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) high

Provenance

English private collection, London, acquired prior to 1999.

Lot Essay

Compare the very similar jue dated early Shang, 16th-15th century BC, illustrated by J. Rawson and E. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, 1990, p. 67, no. 2. Other similar jue include the example in the Royal Ontario Museum illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, p. 78, fig. 46; one from the Anthony and Susan Hardy Collections and the Sze Yuan Tang illustrated by Li Xueqin, The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes, Singapore, 2000, no. 1; and the example excavated in 1965 in Zhengzhou, Henan province, illustrated by W. Watson, The Genius of China, London, 1973, no. 112, p. 88.

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