SKU: 2078.
Categories: Shang Bronzes

Ref. no.:2078









Age:Late Shang Dynasty c.1300-1050 B.C.









Provenance:Formerly on loan to the Oriental Museum, Durham University, England









Dimensions:16 x 20 cm











Description:
Deep U-shaped body supported on three blade-form tapering legs, cast around the sides with two dissolved _taotie_ masks which separated by two low flanges, with raised prominent eyes symmetrically divided by a vertical flange on one side, and a C shaped handle with a bovine head cast in low relief on the other side. All on a fine angular spiral leiwen pattern as background. A pair of capped finials set with conical fire-whorl medallions set at the end of the spout, and a band of triangular pattern under the spout, overall in milky green patina with some areas of malachite encrustation.
An archaeological sample in very similar shape and design to this piece is a bronze _jue_ recorded in Jessica Rawson's book:_Ancient China_ , London, 1980, fig.82, p.114. The Saint Louis Art Museum also has a bronze _jue_ with similar design, see Steven D. Owyoung _et.al._ ed.: _Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Saint Louis Art Museum_ , 1997, No.12, pp. 66-67. Another similar bronze jue with dissolved animal mask pattern can be seen in Hayashi Minao,_ In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu_ (Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronzes), Tokyo, 1984, vol.1, plate, Jue 125, p.175. A bronze jue kept in the Musée Guimet also have the same design, illustrated in Maud Girard-Geslan, _Bronze Archaiques De Chine_ , 1995, Paris, pp.54-57
**PROVENANCE**
Formerly on loan to the Oriental Museum, Durham University, England