An inscribed Chinese archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, jue, Shang dynasty ? ????

拍品描述

The U-shaped body supported by three blade-form legs and issuing a single loop handle emerging from the mouth of a beast mask, below this a two character mark that reads mu ya, the rim issuing a pair of posts surmounted by elongated flared caps, cast to the exterior with two taotie masks on a leiwen ground, one of the legs with a paper collection label, raised on a fitted wood stand Size:(19cm high) Qty: (2) Provenance: Paper collection label that reads 'D.M.S.W, 6'; Property of a deceased estate, London 來源：D.M.S.W, 6 [標籤]；倫敦私人遺產 Notes: The two-character mark inscribed beneath the handle is mu ya, which indicates this ritual wine vessel was creating for the ya-mu clan, and the presence of the ya character would indicate this jue can be dated to the Shang dynasty, owing to the dropping of this character during the Western Zhou dynasty as a strategy to ensure the submission of these elite clans to the new rulers. A vessel bearing this mark is recorded in Jiguzhai zhongding yiqi kuanzhi ('Inscriptions on bronze vessels from the Jiguzhai Collection (Part 2)'), a Qing-era publication written by Ruan Yuan. The two characters are supplemented by a third in the form of a staff, indicating that the vessel was inherited from the owner's father. See a comparable jue sold at Sotheby's New York, 23 March 2022, lot 232 [link]; and two further examples sold by Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2023, lot 3607 [link], and lot 3613 [link]. Vessels of this type are well represented in important museums worldwide, such as one preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in 'Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Shang and Chou Dynasty. Bronze Wine Vessels', Taipei, 1989, cat. no. 8, where the vessel is likened to a jue excavated from tomb no. 4 in Dasikong village, Anyang, Henan province. See another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 49.135.15), included in the Museum’s exhibition 'Arts of Ancient China', New York, 2005 and a further example preserved in the British Museum, London (accession no. 1935,0115.22), included in the Museum’s exhibition 'Ritual and Revelry: The Art of Drinking in Asia', London, 2012-3. 把手下銘「亞木」兩字，表明此禮器乃為亞木氏族所作。按字形考據，銘文中包含「亞」字者多屬商代器物，蓋因西周時期新統治者為順服此類精英氏族，遂漸廢用此字。 清代阮元著《積古齋鐘鼎彝器款識》曾錄有一件帶此銘文之器。該器銘文中「亞木」二字旁另增一杖形符號，代表此器乃承襲自其父輩。 可參閱相關爵例，如售於紐約蘇富比，2022年3月23日，拍品編號232；以及香港蘇富比，2023年4月8日，拍品編號3607及3613。 此類器物於世界著名博物館中亦有典藏，如國立故宮博物院典藏一例，出版於《商周青銅酒器特展圖錄》，台北，1989年，圖錄編號8，書中將該器與河南省安陽市大司空村4號墓出土之爵例相類比。 紐約大都會藝術博物館亦藏有一例（館藏編號：49.135.15），曾參展於該館「Arts of Ancient China」展覽，紐約，2005年。 倫敦大英博物館另藏有一例（館藏編號：1935,0115.22），曾參展於該館「Ritual and Revelry: The Art of Drinking in Asia」展覽，倫敦，2012-2013年。

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