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An archaic bronze wine vessel and cover, jia
Mid Shang dynasty
The bulbous vessel standing on three splayed legs, the waisted neck
cast with a band of keyfret scrolls within circular motifs, one side with a
‘C’-shape-flattened handle in the form of a mythical beast issuing water
from its mouth, ending with a thick rim at the top further surmounted
by a pair of finials cast with sunken whorl motifs, the cover cast with a
centralised ‘C’-shaped knop enclosed by a band of stylised taotie masks
within a frieze of archaistic scroll.
24.3cm high. (2).
HK$120,000 - 180,000
US$15,000 - 23,000
商中期 青銅雲雷紋斝
It is extremely rare to find an archaic bronze jia vessel preserved with its
original cover. See a similar excavated example also dated to the mid
Shang dynasty, with similar tripod feet but without a cover, unearthed
at Henan province in 1974, in the Lingbao Culture Hall, Henan province,
illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 1. Xia Shang 1, Beijing, 1996,
p.98, no.99; See other two jia vessels with similar S-curved profile and
rounded bottom from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, individually
dated to the thirteenth and twelfth century BC, illustrated by Robert W.
Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, New
York, 1987, pp.158-164, nos.5-6.

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