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Lot Essay
The two-character inscription cast on the side of one of the posts reads, Fu Xin (Father Xin).
The elaborate crested bird motifs cast on this rare and unusual jue reflect a decorative scheme introduced into central China during the Western Zhou period. By the middle of the Western Zhou period, large bird motifs with arching crests and tails had become an important design element on rounded vessels, such as gui and you, the ribbon-like plumage following and enhancing the shape of the vessels. Such bird motifs, however, are very rarely found on jue.
One of a pair of Western Zhou jue cast with designs of crested birds is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Two Hundred Selected Masterpieces from the Palace Museum, Beijing, Tokyo National Museum, 2 January - 19 February 2012, no. 49, (Fig. 1) and again in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 27 - Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 150, no. 97. The other jue from this pair is illustrated in Chuka Jinmin Kyowakoku Kodai Seidokiten (Exhibition of Archaic Bronzes from the People's Republic of China), Tokyo and Kyoto, 1976, pl. 39. Unlike the present jue, which is cast around the sides with a single band of crested birds, the Palace Museum jue are cast with two bands of crested birds, with the upper band featuring larger, front-facing birds and the lower band featuring smaller birds with backward-turned heads.
The elaborate crested bird motifs cast on this rare and unusual jue reflect a decorative scheme introduced into central China during the Western Zhou period. By the middle of the Western Zhou period, large bird motifs with arching crests and tails had become an important design element on rounded vessels, such as gui and you, the ribbon-like plumage following and enhancing the shape of the vessels. Such bird motifs, however, are very rarely found on jue.
One of a pair of Western Zhou jue cast with designs of crested birds is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Two Hundred Selected Masterpieces from the Palace Museum, Beijing, Tokyo National Museum, 2 January - 19 February 2012, no. 49, (Fig. 1) and again in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 27 - Bronze Ritual Vessels and Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 150, no. 97. The other jue from this pair is illustrated in Chuka Jinmin Kyowakoku Kodai Seidokiten (Exhibition of Archaic Bronzes from the People's Republic of China), Tokyo and Kyoto, 1976, pl. 39. Unlike the present jue, which is cast around the sides with a single band of crested birds, the Palace Museum jue are cast with two bands of crested birds, with the upper band featuring larger, front-facing birds and the lower band featuring smaller birds with backward-turned heads.