A very rare archaic bronze tripod vessel, Jiao


Late Shang DynastyThe deep ovoid body resting on three splayed blade-like legs, finely cast in relief on each side with a taotie mask with protruding eyes, curly fangs, C-shaped horns and clawed forelegs, all on an intricate leiwen ground, divided on one side by a notched flange, and on the other by a vertical panel cast with an inscription beneath the loop handle issuing from a bovine head, the slightly waisted neck rising to two high flaring points on opposite sides, each cast on the underside with a pair of dragons with prominent circular eyes forming an inverted taotie mask, the three legs decorated with graduated concentric D-motifs within a single outline, a character inscription in the form of a cicada cast under the handle, the surface with a smooth grayish-green patina. 22cm (8 2/3in) high.
|The Property of a Gentleman 士紳藏品商晚期　青銅饕餮紋角蟬形象形符號Provenance: Wui Po Kok Antique, Hong Kong, December 2014Gisèle Croës Arts D'Extreme Orient, Brussels, 2015Jean-Yves Ollivier CollectionPublished and Illustrated: G.Croës, From This Life to Eternity. Asia Week New York, March 2015, pp.22-25來源：香港古董商匯寶閣古美術，2014年12月布魯塞爾古董商吉賽爾藝廊，2015年歐宗易先生珍藏出版及著錄：吉賽爾著，《From This Life to Eternity. Asia Week New York（此生至永恆·紐約亞洲藝術周）》，2015年3月，頁22-25The inscription, cast in the shape of a cicada beneath the handle, is rare and is most likely a clan's symbol. Privileged families during the Shang dynasty usually appropriated the forms of animals or insects to include in their crests. Crests of these type are rarely seen on bronzes later than the mid-Western Zhou dynasty and few other examples of bronzes with cicada crests have survived, but a rubbing of an inscription with this design was illustrated by Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin wencun,vol.16, Shangyu, 1936, p.47. There are several comparable examples of jiao in important museums and private collections around the world. Compare with a bronze jiao cup in Sen-oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, Japan, which was reportedly unearthed in Anyang and dated to the late phase of Yinxu, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol.3, Beijing, p.33; another one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, reportedly found at Doujitai, Baoji, Shaanxi Province, (acc.no.24.72.13); and a third one with very similar thread-relief decoration, is illustrated by Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, no.12. Compare with a related jiao cup of similar form, but with plain motif, late Shang dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2014, lot 103.此器手把下方鑄有一呈蟬狀之符號，或為商代氏族之圖騰，頗為罕見。商代期間，地方氏族多以動物或昆蟲外形設計其圖騰符號，而將圖騰符號鑄於青銅器之中的習慣則延至西周中葉後方逐漸息微。其中一例之銘文拓片可見於羅振玉著，《三代吉金文存》，卷16，上虞，1936年，頁47。現今存世仍有若干例子可資比對，當中一例由日本京都泉屋博古館所藏。此例據傳於安陽出土，為殷墟後期器物，收錄於《中國青銅器全集》，卷三，北京，頁33。另外一例現藏於紐約大都會博物館，於陝西寶雞鬥雞台出土，博物館編號24.72.13。玫茵堂所藏一例，器身紋飾與本次推出之青銅角頗為相似，收錄於汪濤著，《Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection（玫茵堂藏中國銅器）》，倫敦，2009年，圖12。最後一例為一件商末青銅角，為素身器具，但形制相似，曾於2014年3月18日紐約蘇富比拍賣，拍品103號。