AN ARCHAIC BRONZE LIBATION VESSEL, JUE

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE LIBATION VESSEL, JUE
SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH/11TH CENTURY B.C.

Raised on three blade-shaped supports, crisply cast with a band of leiwen decorated with two taotie masks separated by finely scored flanges, one mask divided by a flange, the other divided by a two-character pictogram cast in intaglio beneath the loop handle surmounted by a bovine head, with a band of leiwen-filled triangles above, the pair of posts rising from the rim with conical caps, with mottled patina and heavy encrustation on the interior; together with another bronze jue, Shang dynasty or later, cast in intaglio with two bands of taotie masks dissolved in a ground of scrolls and feathers, with a two-character pictogram beneath the handle surmounted by a bovine mask, the posts rising from the rim with flared, waisted caps
7¾ and 8¼in. (19.6 and 20.9cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Walter Stein Collection, New York

Lot Essay

The first jue is very similar to one illustrated by Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1987, pp. 194-195, no. 18. See, also, the jue included in the exhibition, The Chinese Scholar's Studio: Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period, Asia Society Galleriers, 1987, Catalogue, no. 83

The second jue is closely related in form and decoration to the one included by Eskenazi in the exhibition, The Collection of Ritual Bronze Vessels, Weapons, Gilt Bronzes, Mirrors and Ceramics formed by Dr Franco Vannotti, June 13-July 7, 1989, Catalogue, no. 1. See, also, the vessel illustrated in Masterworks of Chinese Bronze in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1969, no. 44