A BRONZE TRIPOD RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUE

LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE TRIPOD RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUE
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
Raised on three blade-shaped supports, the deep body cast with a band of two taotie masks, one divided by a narrow flange, the other by an inscription cast beneath the handle, the pair of posts rising from the rim with conical caps cast with whorl motifs, with dark silver patina and malachite encrustation
7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm.) high, wood stand and two Japanese wood boxes

Provenance

Acquired in Japan in the 1950s.

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Lot Essay

The inscription cast under the handle consists of a pictograph of a dagger-axe (ge) followed by the name Fu Gui (Father Gui). According to Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990, p. 455, the graph ge appears on Shang and Western Zhou bronzes made over an extensive area and a long period of time and occurs in some of the earliest Shang inscriptions, including vessels excavated at Anyang Wuguancun.

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