Page 142 - Christies Asia Week 2015 Chinese Works of Art

2101
A RARE BRONZE TRIPOD RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUE
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH CENTURY BC

The deep sides are raised on three blade-shaped legs and are fat-cast around the sides with two
pairs of bottle-horn dragons separated by fanges, one pair confronted on another fange and
the other pair confronted on a four-character inscription cast under the handle. All on a leiwen
ground between scale borders and below a band of triangles and two larger dragons on the
underside of the spout. A pair of posts with rounded caps rise from the rim. The surface has a
milky green patina.
8Ω in. (21.5 cm.) high

$60,000-80,000

PROVENANCE:

Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection, Hong Kong, prior to 1988.
Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection; Sotheby’s London, 7 June 2000, lot 3.

EXHIBITED:

New York, E & J Frankel Ltd., Wine and Spirits of the Ancestors, 22 March - 28 April 2001,
no. 2.
New York, E & J Frankel Ltd., Four Decades: Fortieth Anniversary Retrospect, 22 March - 28
April 2007, no. 33.

LITERATURE:

J. Rawson, The Bella and P. P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1988,
pp. 52-3, no. 12.

The inscription includes a clan sign followed by the characters zuo Fu Yi (made [for] Father Yi).
This jue is very unusual in showing four distinct dragons with impressive curved horns rather than
the more customary stylized taotie design, and in having narrow scale borders around the primary
decorative band. Similar dragons can be seen on two jue of different form excavated from tombs at
Xiaodun, Anyang, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi guanji, vol. 3, Beijing, 1997, pls. 4 and 5, where
examples of the more common type can also be seen, pls. 19-27. Compare, also, an early Western
Zhou jue with similar scale borders, but with the spout and neck undecorated, from Chuyucun,
Zhouzhi county, Shaanxi province, illustrated in Shaanxi chutu Shang Zhou qingtongqi, vol. 4, Beijing,
1984, pl. 164.

晚商 青銅龍紋「作父乙」爵

(inscription)

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