A bronze ritual wine vessel, jia, Early Shang dynasty | 商早期 青銅獸面紋斝

The history of jia can be traced to the Neolithic period, where a number of such vessels in pottery forms were produced. In the Shang dynasty, as an essential ritual wine vessel, bronze jia was continued to be cast in various forms. The type of jia with a flat base and a band of ornamental patterns on the neck, similar to the present one, was often dated to the early phase of the Shang dynasty. See a few related examples in the museums dated to the early Shang dynasty, one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, accession number 故00076990 (https://www.dpm.org.cn/collection/bronze/230589); one from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, previously owned by Dr. Paul Singer (1904-1997), now in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., accession number S2012.9.571 (https://www.si.edu/object/ritual-wine-warmer-jia-taotie-and-dragons:fsg_S2012.9.571); and the third one excavated in Daxin, Jinan, Shandong in 1970, now in the Jinan Museum, illustrated in Li Boqian ed., The Complete Collection of Bronzes Unearthed in China, Shandong, I, Beijing, 2018, vol. 5, pl. 10.

Compare a jia of similar form, however, with whorls in low relief to the lower body, sold in our Paris rooms, 16th June 2022, lot 86. Archaic bronze jia of such form and decorations have been recovered from important early Shang sites like the Shang capital city in Zhengzhou, Henan and the southerly palace city Panlongcheng in Hubei province, and can be attributed to the Erligang period. For example, a similar jia with only one post excavated in Panlongcheng, Wuhan, Hunan, published in Li Boqian ed., The Complete Collection of Bronzes Unearthed in China, Hubei, I, Beijing, 2018, vol. 11, pl 54. However, a few more jia vessels with only one decorative band, related to the present lot, dated to the early Shang dynasty were also unearthed in areas nearby in Panlongcheng, published in ibid, pls 46 - 49.