Page 26 - Christie's Mineo Hata Collection Sept. 21, 2023

This impressively large bronze jue was formerly in the collections The inscription cast under the handle of the present jue, zi bu, is
of Cao Zaikui (Qiufang, 1782-1852) and Pan Jiyu (Zengwei, rare to find on extant Shang bronze vessels, but is recorded on
1818-1886). Cao Zaikui was a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, oracle bones. Some scholars, such as Hu Houxuan, suggest zi bu
and renowned as a collector and researcher of ancient Chinese may represent the name of one of the many sons of the Shang
bronze vessels. The present jue is recorded in his seminal 1839 king, Wu Ding. See Hu Houxuan, “Yindai hunyin jiating zongfa
publication Huaimi Shanfang Jijin Tu (The Records of Auspicious shengyu zhidu kao” (Study of the marriage, family, kinship, and
Bronzes in the Huaimi Shanfang Studio). Cao's hall name, Huaimi reproductive systems of the Shang dynasty), in Jiaguxue Shangshi
Shanfang, is inscribed on the underside of the jade-embellished Luncong Chuji, Shijiazhuang, 2002, pp. 98-100). However, in
hardwood stand accompanying the current jue. Pan Jiyu, also a his discussion of the current jue in “Shilun shangdai qingtongqi
native of Suzhou, was a literatus who wrote a number of poems mingwen zhong suo fanying de gongtong zuoqi xianxiang”
and essays. He was the fourth son of Pan Shi'en (1769-1854), who (Discussion on the phenomenon of collaborative sponsorship
was the Grand Minister of State, Grand Secretary of the Hall of reflected in the inscriptions on the bronze vessels of the Shang
Military Glory, and Grand Mentor, and served during the reigns of dynasty), Message of the Research Center for Ancient Civilizations
four Qing emperors: Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Xianfeng. of CASS, vol. 14, 2007, pp. 23-33, Yan Zhibin notes that because
Pan Jiyu's nephew, Pan Zuyin (1830-1890), was also a high-ranking the present jue shows stylistic features of Phase IV of Yinxu rather
official, as well as a famous collector who amassed a collection of than Phase II of the Wu Ding era, zi bu should be interpreted as a
more than 500 bronze vessels in the late Qing dynasty. Masuda clan sign.
Takashi (1848-1938) was an important collector and a Japanese
th
th
tea ceremony practitioner in the late 19 and early 20 century, A bronze jue with similar decoration, but of larger size (33.7 cm.),
and served as a senior manager for Mitsui & Co. in the Alfred F. Pillsbury Collection in the Minneapolis Institute
of Art, is illustrated by Bernhard Karlgren in A Catalogue of the
Chinese Bronzes in the Alfred F. Pillsbury Collection, Minneapolis,
1952, pp. 41-42, pl. 17, no. 13.

The present jue as illustrated by Cao Zaikui, Huaimi Shanfang Jijin tu (The Records of Auspicious Bronzes in the Huaimi Shanfang Studio),
1839, vol. 1, p. 16.
本拍品曾ֵⅫ於曹載奎
Ǘ懷●山房吉金圖ǘ
年
卷
頁

24 M I N E O H A T A A N I N S T I N C T I V E E Y E