Ɏ A RARE GREEN-GLAZED RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JIA, LATE QING DYNASTY-EARLY REPUBLIC PERIOD

Ɏ A RARE GREEN-GLAZED RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JIA, LATE QING DYNASTY-EARLY REPUBLIC PERIOD

China, circa 1880-1920. Finely potted in imitation of an archaic bronze jia, the rounded body rising from three tall blade-form legs to a broad trumpet neck with an everted rim topped by three posts with large conical caps. The neck is carved with a band of stylized dragons forming a taotie mask on one side. Covered overall in a rich streaky green glaze attractively pooling and thinning, stopping unevenly above the feet and to the interior.Provenance: From a private collection in Somerset, United Kingdom.Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and firing irregularities including few dark spots, light warping, small glaze recesses. Little glaze flaking and a small fill.Weight: 1,195 g (excl. stand), 1,468 (incl. stand)Dimensions: Height 26.5 cm (excl. stand), 28.4 cm (incl. stand)With a neatly fitted, matching huanghuali stand. (2)The present lot is an early and important precursor to the later Chinese tradition of archaistic imitations. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, potters developed this idea into a more formalized language, making ceramic vessels directly modeled after ancient bronze ritual objects. A carved Qingbai archaistic tripod censer dated Southern Song-Yuan dynasty at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2017, lot 1137 (fig. 1), shows the same translation of bronze form and archaic ornament into glazed pottery. A Yuan dynasty Longquan Gu-form vase formerly in the collection of Sir Percival David and now in the British Museum, registration number PDF.221(fig. 2), is similarly close to the ancient models, with the museum noting that the ancient bronze shape was transformed into a vase during the Song dynasty.By the Ming dynasty, this archaistic vocabulary had entered imperial porcelain production. A blue-glazed archaistic Zun-form vase, mark and period of Wanli, at Sotheby’s London, 2 November 2022, lot 221 (fig. 3), demonstrates how monochrome glaze, bronze-derived form, and relief projections were combined to evoke antiquity within a fully porcelain medium.Under the Qianlong emperor, ceramic imitation of bronze reached its most refined and sophisticated stage. The celebrated Qianlong archaistic simulated-bronze vase from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 October 2011, lot 19 (fig. 4), is in the style of late Ming and early Qing bronzes and may be an exact copy of a specific model, which in turn would have been inspired by an archaic bronze lei of the Western Zhou period. Qianlong-period potters copied bronzes with a variety of glazes, flambé effects, gilt, and silver to imitate patina and inlay.The jia is one of the classic forms of early Chinese ritual wine vessels, first appearing in pottery during the Neolithic period and reaching its most prestigious bronze form during the Shang and early Western Zhou dynasties. Used in ancestral rites for the heating, holding, or presentation of wine libations, it formed part of the complex bronze vessel system through which elite families honored ancestors and displayed ritual authority. Compare a bronze jia of similar form, size, and decoration, clearly of the type that inspired the present lot, dated 1600-1500 BC, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S2012.9.571 (fig. 5).

This item contains ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and/or some types of tropical wood and is subject to CITES when exporting outside the EU. It is typically not possible to export such items outside of the EU, including to the UK. Therefore, after this item has the necessary trade certificate, it can only be shipped within the EU or picked up in our gallery in person.