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Lot Essay
Used primarily during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (c. 770–221 BC), bronze jian vessels served a variety of practical and ceremonial functions. Large jian, such as this magnificent and exceptionally rare pair, were ingeniously designed as temperature-regulating vessels: in summer, a smaller container, such as a fou or lei, could be placed inside the jian and surrounded by ice to keep wine and food cool, while in winter hot water was used to warm the contents. Jian also functioned as basins for washing and bathing. The reflective surface of the water they contained further allowed them to serve as mirrors before bronze mirrors became widespread, giving the character jian its secondary meaning of “mirror.” Regardless of their specific function, jian were among the most impressive bronze vessels of their time. Their substantial size, the considerable quantity of precious bronze required for their production, and the advanced technical skills needed to cast them underscored their importance as prestigious status symbols and ritual objects reserved for the highest ranks of the nobility.
The present pair of jian is crisply cast around the exterior with three bands of interlaced dragons finely detailed with spirals and dotted ornament, the lowest band suspending pendant lappets of related design. Such interlaced decoration is characteristically associated with the large bronze foundry complex discovered in the mid-twentieth century at Houma, in present-day Shanxi province. Excavations at this extensive site revealed evidence of highly sophisticated manufacturing techniques. Fragments of reused clay models, master pattern blocks, and decorated clay molds demonstrate the use of ceramic pattern-transfer methods in the production of elaborately ornamented bronze vessels. The foundry was established around 585 BC under the patronage of the rulers of the State of Jin, who remained its principal sponsors for approximately 150 years.
As noted by Jenny F. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, Washington, D.C., 1995, p. 40, “the creative blending of past and present that resulted in the elegant interlaced designs typically associated with Houma took place toward the end of the 6th century BC.” Two important benchmarks in the development of this decorative style are the pair of Zhao Meng jie hu in the British Museum, illustrated by So (ibid., p. 40, fig. 54), and the two Zhi Jun Zi jian, one in the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the other in the Freer Gallery of Art (ibid., p. 40, fig. 55). Inscriptions on the British Museum hu indicate that they were commissioned to commemorate a historical event in 482 BC, while the inscriptions on the two Zhi Jun Zi jian identify their owner as a member of the Zhi clan, a ruling family that was annihilated in 453 BC by the allied Han, Zhao, and Wei clans.
The Zhi Jun Zi jian (51.7 cm diam.) share several notable features with the present pair, including a closely related bowl form, the division of the decoration into three horizontal registers of interlaced designs, and faceted loop handles issuing from animal masks and suspending flat rings. So also illustrates another jian from Jingshengcun, Taiyuan, Shanxi (70.6 cm diam.; ibid., p. 42, fig. 60), which displays characteristics closely comparable to the Zhi Jun Zi jian and the current pair of jian, as well as a bronze bell (pp. 369, no. 76) in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, dated to the late sixth century BC, whose gu-panel ornament incorporates interlaced dragon motifs very similar to those seen on the present pair of jian.
Other massive Spring and Autumn period bronze jian, but with differences in the decorative bands and the handles, include the example (59.6 cm. diam.) from the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated by C. B. Kelley and Chen Mengjia, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Chicago, 1946, pp. 90-1, pl. LI. The Buckingham jian differs from the current pair in its use of rope-twist bands separating the dragon registers and in having only two mask-and-ring handles. Rope-twist bands can also be seen separating the dragon registers on a four-handled jian (70.6 cm.) from Taiyuan City, and now in the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, illustrated in Selected Cultural Relics from Local Museums in Shanxi, Shanxi, 1995. Also illustrated, p. 72, no. 106, is a jian (62.5 cm. diam.) from Houma City, and now in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, which features a broad, flat mouth rim and four mask handles but lacks loose rings. Among the most celebrated bronze jian are the two inscribed examples made for King Fuchai of Wu (r. 495-473 BC), now in the Shanghai Museum (see Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi yanjiu: Dong Zhou pian, Shang [Study of Bronzes of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties: Eastern Zhou, vol. 1], Shanghai, 2004, no. 507) and the National Museum of China (https://en.chnmuseum.cn/collections_577/collection_highlights_608/artifacts_handed___down_from_ancient_times_612/202109/t20210902_251154.html). Measuring 75 and 76.5 cm. in diam. respectively, they both display three registers of tightly interlaced spirals as well as pendant lappets suspending from the lowest band. They also feature a pair of mask and loose-ring handles supplemented by a pair of sculptural tiger-form handles. Further large bronze jian include the example from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 20 March 1997, lot 41 (77.5 cm. across handles), and the example from the Maclean Collection sold at Sotheby’s New York, 22 September 2021, lot 17 (74.3 cm. across handles).
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test nos. C101x87 and C101x86 are consistent with the dating of this lot.
The present pair of jian is crisply cast around the exterior with three bands of interlaced dragons finely detailed with spirals and dotted ornament, the lowest band suspending pendant lappets of related design. Such interlaced decoration is characteristically associated with the large bronze foundry complex discovered in the mid-twentieth century at Houma, in present-day Shanxi province. Excavations at this extensive site revealed evidence of highly sophisticated manufacturing techniques. Fragments of reused clay models, master pattern blocks, and decorated clay molds demonstrate the use of ceramic pattern-transfer methods in the production of elaborately ornamented bronze vessels. The foundry was established around 585 BC under the patronage of the rulers of the State of Jin, who remained its principal sponsors for approximately 150 years.
As noted by Jenny F. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, Washington, D.C., 1995, p. 40, “the creative blending of past and present that resulted in the elegant interlaced designs typically associated with Houma took place toward the end of the 6th century BC.” Two important benchmarks in the development of this decorative style are the pair of Zhao Meng jie hu in the British Museum, illustrated by So (ibid., p. 40, fig. 54), and the two Zhi Jun Zi jian, one in the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the other in the Freer Gallery of Art (ibid., p. 40, fig. 55). Inscriptions on the British Museum hu indicate that they were commissioned to commemorate a historical event in 482 BC, while the inscriptions on the two Zhi Jun Zi jian identify their owner as a member of the Zhi clan, a ruling family that was annihilated in 453 BC by the allied Han, Zhao, and Wei clans.
The Zhi Jun Zi jian (51.7 cm diam.) share several notable features with the present pair, including a closely related bowl form, the division of the decoration into three horizontal registers of interlaced designs, and faceted loop handles issuing from animal masks and suspending flat rings. So also illustrates another jian from Jingshengcun, Taiyuan, Shanxi (70.6 cm diam.; ibid., p. 42, fig. 60), which displays characteristics closely comparable to the Zhi Jun Zi jian and the current pair of jian, as well as a bronze bell (pp. 369, no. 76) in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, dated to the late sixth century BC, whose gu-panel ornament incorporates interlaced dragon motifs very similar to those seen on the present pair of jian.
Other massive Spring and Autumn period bronze jian, but with differences in the decorative bands and the handles, include the example (59.6 cm. diam.) from the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated by C. B. Kelley and Chen Mengjia, Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Chicago, 1946, pp. 90-1, pl. LI. The Buckingham jian differs from the current pair in its use of rope-twist bands separating the dragon registers and in having only two mask-and-ring handles. Rope-twist bands can also be seen separating the dragon registers on a four-handled jian (70.6 cm.) from Taiyuan City, and now in the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, illustrated in Selected Cultural Relics from Local Museums in Shanxi, Shanxi, 1995. Also illustrated, p. 72, no. 106, is a jian (62.5 cm. diam.) from Houma City, and now in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, which features a broad, flat mouth rim and four mask handles but lacks loose rings. Among the most celebrated bronze jian are the two inscribed examples made for King Fuchai of Wu (r. 495-473 BC), now in the Shanghai Museum (see Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi yanjiu: Dong Zhou pian, Shang [Study of Bronzes of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties: Eastern Zhou, vol. 1], Shanghai, 2004, no. 507) and the National Museum of China (https://en.chnmuseum.cn/collections_577/collection_highlights_608/artifacts_handed___down_from_ancient_times_612/202109/t20210902_251154.html). Measuring 75 and 76.5 cm. in diam. respectively, they both display three registers of tightly interlaced spirals as well as pendant lappets suspending from the lowest band. They also feature a pair of mask and loose-ring handles supplemented by a pair of sculptural tiger-form handles. Further large bronze jian include the example from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 20 March 1997, lot 41 (77.5 cm. across handles), and the example from the Maclean Collection sold at Sotheby’s New York, 22 September 2021, lot 17 (74.3 cm. across handles).
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test nos. C101x87 and C101x86 are consistent with the dating of this lot.