A bronze 'mythical beast' tripod ritual wine vessel, jue, Late Shang dynasty 商末 青銅獸面紋爵

Born Ethel Henshaw on 14th April 1911, in Joplin, Missouri and married Harold Medill Sarkisian, who was an internationally known dealer for Oriental rugs. Mr and Mrs Sarkisian travelled to Asia extensively after World War II. She was a patron of the Denver Art Museum and was active in Pi Phi Sorority and St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. The Sarkisians' art collection was comprised of several hundred pieces and included Islamic metal, Chinese sculpture, Chinese and Japanese paintings, and art from Egypt, Nepal and India.

The present jue represents an archetypal form of bronze vessel used to hold and warm up wine in ritual ceremonies during the late Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). An archaic jue of similar form and decoration in the collection of Taipei Palace Museum is illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp.132-133, no. 5. See also an excavated example unearthed at Henan province in 1980, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji [Complete collection of Chinese archaic bronzes], vol. 4: Shang, Beijing, 1998, p. 51, no. 53.

埃塞爾．亨肖．薩爾錫安夫人1911年4月14日出生於美國密蘇里州喬普林市，丈夫哈羅德．薩爾錫安是國際知名的亞洲及遠東古董地毯商。薩爾錫安夫婦二戰後開始遊歷亞洲，並成為了丹佛藝術博物館的資助人，他們的藏品涉及伊斯蘭金屬器、中國雕塑、中國及日本繪畫、古埃及、尼泊爾及印度藝術共數百件。

《禮記．禮器》載：「宗廟之祭，貴者獻以爵，賤者獻以散，尊者舉觶，卑者舉角」，可見爵在禮器中的重要性。參考台北故宮博物院之父癸爵，見陳芳妹著，《故宮商代青銅禮器圖錄》，台北，1998，頁132-133，編號5。另見河南1980年出土一例，著錄於《中國青銅器全集4：商》，北京，1998年，頁51，編號53。