Lot 234
RARE BLACK POTTERY WINE VESSEL, JUE
SHANG DYNASTY
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art
Auction: 3 November 2023 from 09:00 GMT
Description
商 黑陶爵
elegantly potted, the oval body supported on three blade legs, the mouth extended to a cupped pouring tip at one end and a raised pointed tip at the opposite flanked by two vertical posts with conical finials in between, one side of the vessel applied with a loop handle
Dimensions
19cm high
Provenance
Provenance: Private Scottish collection, North Berwick, has been collecting Asian ceramics for 25 years. Acquired at Christie's London, 19 Jun 2001, lot 3, with an original receipt.
The result of the Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence analysis test, sample no. C101j70, is consistent with the dating of this lot, with a photocopied certificate dated 1 May 2001.
Footnote
Note: Ritual wine vessels in the form of a jue are more commonly seen in bronze. They were designated for heating and pouring wine during Shang dynasty rituals. The capped posts rising from the rim would have allowed the hot metal vessel to be lifted from the heat and poured, whereas the ceramic form of this vessel would not have been suitable for this.
Compared to zun and gu vessels dated to the Shang dynasty made in the form of ceramic instead of bronze, fewer jue and jia vessels are known. Compare to a greatly simplified and squatted jue, dated to the late Shang dynasty, in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, object no. B60P1834, and illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics - The New Standard Guide, London: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 63, no. 20. Also see other similar simplified examples, Shang dynasty, one in Princeton University Art Museum, museum no. y1965-52; some in Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica Taipei, accession nos. R023599BBWA_2, R000175CCWA, R000174CCWK_1. These tripod vessels with slender legs, like this lot, would have been more difficult to fire successfully.