A LARGE ARCHAISTIC GILT-BRONZE WINE VESSEL, JUE MING DYNASTY

the deep U-shaped body cast around the exterior with two large taotie masks divided by three vertical flanges and an animal mask handle, the widely flraing rim and spout surmounted by a pair of upright posts with capped finials, all supported on three tall slender blade legs, the gilt-metal patinated to a mottled golden-brown tone with patches of malachite encrustation  

For examples of Ming jue see three, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pls. 17-18. From the inscriptions found on these vessels, Kerr ibid., p. 32 concludes that they represent votive vessels possibly made for small temples in the early to mid-Ming period.

Ming bronze jue are after archaic bronze drinking vessels. See the famous jue discovered in the lavisly furnished royal tomb of Fu Hao, consort to king Wu Ding (1324-1265 B.C.), which can be dated to the late 13th and early 12th century B.C. included in Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, Beijing, 1980, pl. 58; and another Shang dynasty jue from the Barbara and Helen Myers Collection, sold in our New York rooms twice, 30th May 1990, lot 15, and again, 31th March 2005, lot 149.