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AN INSCRIBED ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL 商末 乙邑爵
WINE VESSEL (JUE)
LATE SHANG DYNASTY 銘文：
乙邑
cast beneath the handle with a two-character inscription
reading Yi yi 來源
Height 7⅝ in., 19.3 cm Rare Arts, Inc.，紐約，1975年
戴潤齋，紐約
PROVENANCE 紐約蘇富比2012年3月20日，編號11
Rare Arts, Inc., New York, 1975.
J.T. Tai & Co., New York.
Sotheby’s New York, 20th March 2012, lot 11.
The present jue represents an archetypal form of bronze
vessel used to hold and warm up wine in ritual ceremonies
during the late Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). The flanges
around its body are notable, providing additional decorative
elements to this attractive goblet. Beneath the handle is a
pictogram cast on the body of the vessel, signifying either
the name of a location or a clan. Vessels of this type are
well represented in important museums worldwide, such
as one preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
and illustrated in the Museum’s Catalogue of the Special
Exhibition of Shang and Chou Dynasty. Bronze Wine Vessels,
Taipei, 1989, cat. no. 8, where the vessel is likened to a jue
excavated from tomb no. 4 in Dasikong village, Anyang,
Henan province. See another in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York (accession no. 49.135.15), included in the
Museum’s exhibition Arts of Ancient China, New York, 2005
and a further example preserved in the British Museum,
London (accession no. 1935,0115.22), included in the
Museum’s exhibition Ritual and Revelry: The Art of Drinking in
Asia, London, 2012-3.
⊖ $ 60,000-80,000

44 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10917 45