Page 101 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

170. Ritual bronze wine vessel jia
Shang dynasty, late Erligang period - early Yinxu period, circa 14 - 13 centuries bc.
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商代二里岡晚期 — 殷墟早期青銅斝
Height: 17 cm

A rare bronze wine vessel jia, supported on three pointed, Provenance:
stubby, triangular legs. The vessel’s bulbous body is ▪ Private European Collection since 1950.
deeply cast with two bands of decoration, a wider lower ▪ C.T. Loo, Paris, France, before 1950.
band decorated with slightly protruding, revolving- ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
wheel-like circles and spirals and a narrower upper band
decorated with stylized mythical-bird-like patterns with Exhibited:
large rectangular eyes. ▪ Trésors de la Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La
Collection Meiyintang, Musée des arts asiatiques
Two high mushroom-like tenons, each consisting of Guimet, Paris 13 mars - 10 juin 2013, catalogue no. 12.
a square stem surmounted by an umbrella-like top
decorated with geometrical patterns, emerge from the Published:
vessel’s upper rim. From the side of the vessel just below ▪ Guimet, Musée des arts asiatiques, Trésors de la
the upper rim, a simple undecorated handle topped Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La Collection
by a stylized taotie mask in low relief extends sharply Meiyintang, Paris 2013, p. 32, no. 12.
outwards, before turning inwards to end just below the
vessel’s lower band of decoration. Similar examples:
▪ Another jia quite similar in shape, excavated in 1974,
The vessel has a pleasant green patina.
in Lingpao, Henan province, is illustrated in Zhongguo
Qingtongqi Quanji, Vol. 1 - Xia - Shang, Beijing 1996,
p. 98 no. 99, and in Hayashi M., In Shu Jidai Seidoki
no Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi), Conspectus
of Yin and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo 1984, Vol. I - Plates,
p. 194 no. 31.
▪ Another vessel of the same shape, but with different
decor and now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto,
is published by Deydier Ch., Les Bronzes Archaïques
Chinois - Archaic Chinese Bronzes - I - Xia & Shang,
Paris 1995, p. 237, and in Hayashi M., In Shu Jidai
Seidoki no Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki Soran Ichi),
Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes, Tokyo 1984,
Vol. I - Plates p. 194 no. 30.

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