Page 96 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

169. Ritual bronze wine vessel jiao
Shang Dynasty, late Erligang period, circa 14 century bc.
th
商代二里岡晚期青銅角
Height: 20.2 cm, Width across the top front: 16.2 cm

A double-spouted, flat-bottomed tripod cup used for Provenance:
heating fermented beverages. The cup is supported by ▪ Private Collection, Tokyo, Japan.
three triangular, outwardly descending legs, each of whose ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
outer surfaces is decorated with a descending bordered-
blade-like motif encompassing a cicada-wing motif with Exhibited:
a very stylized taotie mask above it. The body of the ▪ XXV ème Biennale des Antiquaires / Grand Palais -
vessel consists of an oval, flat-bottomed body whose sides Paris, Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris 2010, catalogue
gradually extend outwards as they rise to form a pair of p. 10 - 17.
open, horn-like spouts. The wide half-oval front and back
sections of the vessel’s body come together on the sides Published:
of the vessel in narrow, ridge-like, horizontal decorated ▪ Deydier Ch., XXV ème Biennale des Antiquaires / Grand
strips. The surface of each of these half-oval front and Palais - Paris, Paris 2010, p. 10 - 17.
back sections is cast with a complex motif consisting of
a powerful bulging-eyed taotie mask in its upper half
and four rows of spirals and curls forming another more Similar example:
stylized and smaller taotie mask in its lower half. The ▪ A bronze jia vessel with a similar design, but with a
front section of the vessel has down its centre a vertical rounded body, is conserved in the Idemitsu Museum
ridge topped by a small taotie mask, while the back of the (Japan) and is published in Ancient Chinese Arts in the
vessel has down its centre a semi-circular handle topped Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo 1989, pl. 35.
by a taotie mask with protruding eyes. All the incisions
of the vessel’s decoration are filled with a carbonated Notes:
substance, perhaps traces of some sort of inlay.
▪ This vessel’s attribution to the pre-Yinxu period of the
Shang dynasty is based on a comparative study of the
The vessel has a light bluish-green patina.
form and structure of jiao and jue wine cups of the
Xia period (Erlitou culture) and the beginning of the
Shang (Erligang period). The central cup sections of
all the jiao and jue of these early periods have flat
bottoms and, most importantly, are oval-shaped and
have pointed spouts, as is the case with the present
example. In following periods, the bottoms and bodies
of jiao and jue wine cups are almost always rounded.
▪ The decoration on the legs of the present vessel is
very similar to the decoration on the legs of a jiao
conserved in the Palace Museum in Beijing, which is
illustrated as no. 4125 on p. 2323 - 2324 of Vol.VI of
Yan Yiping, Jinwen Zongji, Taipei 1983. The same jiao
is published as no. 23 on p. 192 in Vol. I of Hayashi
M., In Shu Jidai Seidoki no Kenkyu (In Shu Seidoki
Soran Ichi), Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes,
Tokyo 1984, where it is dated as early Zhou. The same
piece was also published in Kaogu Xuebao, Issue no. 2,
1977, p. 34 where Mr. Yin Zhiyi describes it as a Shang
period bronze made by the important Po Ku tribe,
allies of the Shang.
▪ The incisions in the decoration on the bronze jiao in
the Palace Museum, Beijing are filled with a red-black
paste which accentuates the design. Tests carried out
between 1967 and 1969 by R.J. Getteres of the Freer
Gallery (Washington, D.C.) demonstrated that this
paste or carbonated substance is made up of a mixture
of quartz and cuprite. So far only a few bronze vessels
with their designs highlighted in this way have been
recorded. One of these is a bronze li at the Cernuschi
Museum in Paris which was published by Elisseeff
V., Bronzes Archaïques Chinois au Musée Cernuschi,
Archaic Chinese Bronzes, Vol. 1 - Tome 1, Paris 1977,
pl. 1.

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