Page 61 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

The jian 鑒 was used as a container for water or ice. When the jian 鑒
was filled with water, the water’s surface was also sometimes used as
a mirror. So common was this practice that in ancient China bronze
mirrors were also called jian 鑒, since one could see one’s reflection
on a bronze mirror’s well-polished surface, just as one could see one’s
reflection on the surface of the clear water in a jian 鑒.

When filled with ice, the jian 鑒 was also used to cool alcoholic
beverages. A most extraordinary fangjian 方鑒 or square jian 鑒 was
excavated from the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng 曾侯乙 in Hubei 湖
北省 in 1978. The elaborately decorated multi-sectioned piece consists
of a large square jian 鑒 envelopping a smaller square zun fou 方尊缶
(square zun jar). Ice was placed in the space between the outer jian 鑒
and the inner zun fou 尊缶 to cool the alcoholic beverage stored therein.

Jiao 角

This wine vessel, which very closely resembles the jue 爵 in shape, has
major differences; it has no pouring spout and no vertical protuberances
surmounted by knobs, but it has two upwardly pointing, outwardly
extending, horn-like sides.

Known in pottery during the neolithic period, the jiao 角 appears in
bronze at the end of the Erlitou 二里頭 cultural period (circa 18 –
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17 /16 centuries B.C.), but in a hybrid jiao-he 角/盉 form. This jiao’s
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角 oval body with its pointed prolongations, has a very long pouring
spout, identical to that of a he 盉 vessel, positioned towards the middle
of its body (See photo on page 104).

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Jiao, Shang dynasty, Yinxu period (circa 14 – 12 /11 centuries B.C.)
Height: 23.5 cm – Private Collection (ex. Meiyintang Collection).
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