Page 78 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

162. Ritual bronze wine vessel jue
Shang Dynasty, Erligang period, circa 16 - 14 centuries bc.
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商代二里岡時期青銅爵
Height: 20.5 cm, Length: 17.8 cm

A bronze tripod cup used for heating fermented beverages. Provenance:
A single mushroom-like tenon rises on a pyramid-shaped ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
arch above the section of the vessel’s upwardly rising
spout where it begins to emerge from the vessel’s oval, Exhibited:
flat-bottomed body. The cup section of the vessel is ▪ Treasures from Ancient China - III, Asia Week / New
supported on three outwardly extending, triangular legs York, Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris 2011, catalogue
which taper off at their bottoms to end in pointed, almost p. 16 - 19
sword-blade-like tips. A semi-circular handle extends
from one of the vessel’s sides, both of which are decorated Published:
with three bands of design, a central wider band cast with ▪ Deydier Ch., Treasures from Ancient China - III, Asia
primitive taotie masks and two much narrower bordered Week / New York, Paris 2011, p. 16 - 19.
bands of small circular patterns, above and below the
central band of design. Similar examples:
▪ A jue with the same decoration, but with the more
The vessel has a green and grey patina. commonly found double tenons at its top, is conserved
in the collection of the Guimet Museum in Paris and
is illustrated by Girard-Geslan M., Bronzes Archaïques
de Chine, Paris 1995, p. 51 to 53.
▪ A jue, also with a single tenon and excavated in 1974
on the site of Panlongcheng, Lijiazui, Tomb Li MI is
illustrated by Deydier Ch., Les Bronzes Archaïques
Chinois - Archaic Chinese Bronzes - I - Xia & Shang,
Paris 1995, plate no. 4.

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