An Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel, Jue. Shang Dynasty

supported on three splayed legs, the deep U-shaped body with long channelled spout opposite a raised pointed rim, crisply cast around the exterior in low relief with a taotie mask band divided to one side by a vertical flange and to the other with loop handle issuing from a bovine mask, the rim set with a pair of rectangular posts capped by conical finials decorated with whorl patters, cast with two pictograms below the handle, the metal patinated to a dark brownish-grey tone with light patches of malachite encrustation, wood stand . 20.6cm., 8 1/8 in. Estimate 8,000—12,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: Private Collection formed in the 1950's.

NOTE: The two-character inscription consists of the cyclical graph gui and the pictograph ge (dagger). See closely related jue in the Arthur M. Sackler collection, illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1987, pls 19-23; further examples included in the exhibition Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. nos 4 and 5; and three sold in our New York rooms, 20^th March 2007, lot 528, 20^th September 2000, lot 40, and 19^th September 2001, lot 1.

Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 05 Nov 08. London. Photo courtesy Sotheby's. www.sothebys.com