Page 116 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

and America” (1963), that the use of masks proÞ le. In the case of the present zun, this fact ingesting these creatures and the powers
in ritual, regardless of if the mask is worn as occurs in the taotie masks, the cicada, and the possessed by each. This process in conjunction
a costume or applied to a ritual implement kuilong at the edges of the upright blades. Split with the mind-altering properties inherent
(e.g., taotie on the zun), permits the user to representation allows the entire creature to be to the wine itself would have enabled those
embody or otherwise harness the power of rendered, presumably improving the potency who drank from the present zun to physically,
the creature(s) depicted. Furthermore, Lévi- through the complete imaging of the animal. psychologically, and spiritually bring the taotie,
Strauss, along with Harlee G. Creel, and K. C. Split representation also e* ectively wraps the kuilong, and cicada into themselves. The
Chang, among other scholars, have observed animal’s ‘skin’ around the vessel, implying that drinker would transform into an elevated state
that Shang dynasty bronzes frequently depict the contents of the vessel become synonymous embodying the properties of these creatures as
animals in ‘split representation’, meaning with the contents of the animal(s). When the he transcended the divide between the mortal
that both sides of the animal are depicted in shaman or ruler drank the wine, they were in and the spirit realms.

114 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART