Lot 25. A very rare archaic bronze tripod vessel, Jiao, Late Shang Dynasty (c. 1500-1050 BC); 22cm (8 2/3in) high. Estimate: £180,000 - 220,000 (€ 200,000 - 250,000). Unsold. © Bonhams.

The deep ovoid body resting on three splayed blade-like legs, finely cast in relief on each side with a taotie mask with protruding eyes, curly fangs, C-shaped horns and clawed forelegs, all on an intricate leiwen ground, divided on one side by a notched flange, and on the other by a vertical panel cast with an inscription beneath the loop handle issuing from a bovine head, the slightly waisted neck rising to two high flaring points on opposite sides, each cast on the underside with a pair of dragons with prominent circular eyes forming an inverted taotie mask, the three legs decorated with graduated concentric D-motifs within a single outline, a character inscription in the form of a cicada cast under the handle, the surface with a smooth grayish-green patina.

Provenance: Wui Po Kok Antique, Hong Kong, December 2014
Gisèle Croës Arts D'Extreme Orient, Brussels, 2015
Jean-Yves Ollivier Collection.

Published and Illustrated: G.Croës, From This Life to Eternity. Asia Week New York, March 2015, pp.22-25

Note: The inscription, cast in the shape of a cicada beneath the handle, is rare and is most likely a clan's symbol. Privileged families during the Shang dynasty usually appropriated the forms of animals or insects to include in their crests. Crests of these type are rarely seen on bronzes later than the mid-Western Zhou dynasty and few other examples of bronzes with cicada crests have survived, but a rubbing of an inscription with this design was illustrated by Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin wencun,vol.16, Shangyu, 1936, p.47. 

There are several comparable examples of jiao in important museums and private collections around the world. Compare with a bronze jiao cup in Sen-oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, Japan, which was reportedly unearthed in Anyang and dated to the late phase of Yinxu, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol.3, Beijing, p.33; another one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, reportedly found at Doujitai, Baoji, Shaanxi Province, (acc.no.24.72.13); and a third one with very similar thread-relief decoration, is illustrated by Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, no.12.

Bronze  Jiao cup, unearthed in Anyang and dated to the late phase of Yinxu, Shang Dynasty in Sen-oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, Japan.

Ritual Wine Vessel (Jiao), Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 B.C.), late 11th century B.C. Bronze. H. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm); W. at rim 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm); D. 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm); Wt. 2.5 lb. (1.1 kg), Munsey Fund, 1931, 24.72.13. © 2000–2018 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Compare with a related jiao cup of similar form, but with plain motif, late Shang dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2014, lot 103.

The Tian Mian Fu Yi Jiao, An Important and Very Rare Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel. Late Shang Dynasty, 13th-11th Century BC. Height 9 3/8 in., 23.8 cm. Sold for $2,405,000 at Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2014, lot 103. Photo: Sotheby's.