LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC

Details

AN UNUSUAL BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD WINE VESSEL, JUE
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC
The deep body is raised on three tall blade-form supports, and the sides are finely cast with two taotie masks formed by pairs of addorsed birds facing and separated by narrow flanges. One mask is flanked by small descending birds and centered on a further flange, while the other mask is centered on an inscription cast under the loop handle, which issues from a small bovine mask. Above is a band of small blades and longer blades on the underside of the spout and the flared collar. A pair of capped posts rises from the rim. The bronze has a mottled milky green patina and some malachite and azurite encrustation.
9 in. (22.8 cm.) high, wood stand, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Private collection, Japan, acquired in the late 19th/early 20th century.

Sale room notice

Please note that this vessel was previously in the collection of R. Hosomi, Osaka and was illustrated by Umehara Sueji, Nihon Shucho Shina Kodo Seika, vol. 3, Osaka, 1961, pl. 222.

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Lot Essay

The inscription cast under the handle consists of an altar positioned below two figures kneeling before a fire. A similar inscription can be found on a late Shang jue in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji - 3 - Shang (3), Beijing, 1997, p. 26, no. 26.

Three jue dated to the 13th-12th century BC, of similar tall proportions and with similar cast decoration, are illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 180-86, nos. 12-14.

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