Lot 82. An archaic bronze beaker, gu, Early Shang dynasty; H. 32 cm, 12 5/8 in. Lot sold: 10,080 EUR (Estimate: 8,000 - 12,000 EUR). © Sotheby's

the tripod goblet with a characteristic trumpet-shaped upper and rounded lower section with a flat base, decorated with taotie borders and broad scrolling ribbons standing out against plain recessed areas, organized as elongated scroll bands centred on a single eye, confronting each other to form a double-eyed mask opposite the handle.

Property from a European private collection.

Provenance: Galerie 41, Monaco, 18th May 2006 (14,000 €).

Lot 86. A rare and important archaic bronze goblet, Jia, Early Shang dynasty; H. 26.5 cm, 10 3/8 in. Lot sold: 81,900 EUR (Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 EUR). © Sotheby's

the tripod goblet with a characteristic trumpet-shaped upper and rounded lower section with a flat base, decorated with taotie borders and broad scrolling ribbons standing out against plain recessed areas, organized as elongated scroll bands centred on a single eye, confronting each other to form a double-eyed mask opposite the handle.

Provenance: An old Spanish family collection, the goblet was part of the furnishing of the family's Buen Retiro mansion in Madrid.

Note: Archaic bronze goblets of this characteristic jia form with trumpet-shaped upper and rounded lower section with a flat base, and with similar taotie borders and whorls, have been recovered from important early Shang sites like that of the capital city Zhengzhou in Henan and the southerly palace city Panlongcheng in Hubei province, and can be attributed to the Erligang period. The almost abstract design bands of this period are characterized by broad scrolling ribbons that clearly stand out against plain recessed areas. On this goblet shape, the setup of the taotie band takes into account the attached handle on one side and is organized as elongated scroll bands centred on a single eye, confronting each other to form a double-eyed mask opposite the handle. 

Jia of this exact type as well as examples of similar form with slightly different design bands or lacking the whorl motifs have been found in large number at Panlongcheng sites. The closest were located in stages 5 and 6, representative of the first and second phase of the Upper Erligang Culture, which can be attributed to the late 15th and 14th century BC. Mould fragments found nearby show that the bronzes buried at Panlongcheng were also cast there. The excavation report Panlongcheng. 1963 – 1994 nian kaogu fajue baogao/The Panlongcheng Site. Report of Archaeological Excavation from 1963 – 1994, Beijing, 2001 includes a number of very similar jia recovered in and around Panlongcheng, for example, from Lijiazui, vol. 1, fig. 131: 2, and vol. 2, col. pl. 22: 2 and 4, and pl. 58: 2; from Wangjiazui, vol. 1, fig. 87 and vol. 2, pl. 36: 3; from Yangjiawan, vol. 1, fig. 184, and vol. 2, pl. 75: 2; and from the city site itself, vol. 1, fig. 307, and vol. 2, pl. 136: 3.

A similar jia excavated at Zhengzhou and now in the Zhengzhou Municipal Museum is illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete series on Chinese bronzes], vol. 1, Beijing, 1996, pls 85 and 86; and again in Henan chutu Shang Zhou qingtong qi/The Unearthed Bronzes of Shang-Zhou Dynasty in Henan Province, vol. 1, Beijing, 1981, pl. 49; another from Huixian, north of Zhengzhou, now in the Xinxiang Museum, ibid. pl. 116.

A similar piece without whorls, also attributed to the 15th-14th century BC, is published in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1987, no. 2, where it is compared to a jia from Panlongcheng, p. 79, fig. 49, and another in the British Museum, illustrated fig. 50.

Sotheby's. Arts d'Asie, 16 June 2022