Lot 146. A rare early archaic bronze wine vessel, (jue), Erlitou Period (c. 1900 – c. 1500 BC), Shang Dynasty. length 11 in., 28 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 120,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the thinly cast vessel, elegantly balanced on three thin tapered legs, rising to a flat-bottom hourglass body flaring at the rim to a sharp elliptical point opposite a long channeled spout flanked by two small nail-head posts on the rim, one side cast with a curved double-strap handle, the dark patina with malachite encrustation.

Note: This jue is a fine example of a very early Shang dynasty wine vessel of this slender and elegant form. See a very similar jue, excavated at the Erlitou-type site, Yanshi, Henan province and now in the Henan Provincial Museum of the Shang City at Yanshi, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol. 1, Beijing, 1996, pl. 7.