Lot 807. A rare crystal-inlaid red and black lacquered ritual spoon, bi, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 9); 10 1/4 in. (26 cm.) long, composite stand, plexiglass case. Estimate USD 6,000 – USD 8,000. Unsold. © Christie's 2023

The spoon has a long slender handle and a flat ovoid bowl centered with a faceted rock crystal insert. It is decorated on the handle and on the reverse of the bowl with red scrollwork painted on a dark brownish-black lacquer ground.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1995.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 2120.

Note: A similarly decorated lacquer ritual spoon of closely related form but without a rock crystal insert was discovered at the Qin State cemetery in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei province, and is illustrated in Yunmeng Shuihudi Qin mu (Qin Tombs in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County), Beijing, 1981, pl. 17, no. 2 and in a line drawing on p. 33, pl. 34.

Archaeologists and scholars today refer to this form of long-handled spoon as a bi. According to the Eastern Han dynasty historian Zheng Xuan (AD 127-200) in his commentary on ancient rituals, the bi was used to handle and divide food during ceremonies.

Christie's. J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 23.03.2023