An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, jueLate Shang Dynasty, 11th century BC |The U-shaped body raised on three tall tapered legs of triangular section and encircled by a decorative band intersected with small globules beneath a narrow key-fret border, one side with a loop handle, the lip typically flaring at one end and with a long curving spout between two upright posts surmounted by whorl-cast conical caps at the other end, Japanese wood box. |17cm (6 6/8in) high (2).|商末（公元前十一世紀） 青銅乳丁紋爵|Provenance: Mayuyama Collection, Tokyo|Kochukyo, Tokyo|來源：東京繭山收藏|日本古董商壺中居|Illustrated and Published: Naito Kenkichi, Nihon shucho shina kodo seika, vol.3, Tokyo, 1961, no.229.|The inscription consists of a graph depicting an inverted arrow head rendered in fine, raised lines.|The highly stylised motif on this jue vessel shows a departure from the classical taotie motif and it is rare to find another jue with the same pattern and design. This pattern intersected with rounded globules can be found on a gui bronze ritual food vessel, late Shang period, illustrated by C.Peifen, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Shanghai Museum, 1995, p.52, no.25; another gui vessel with the same design of 'compound lozenges and spikes', dated to the Early Zhou dynasty, is illustrated by B.Karlgren, Chinese Bronzes: The Natanael Wessen Collection, Stockholm, 1969, p.44. |Compare with a related archaic bronze jue vessel, late Shang dynasty, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong on 30 May 2012, lot 4130; another related bronze jue vessel, late Shang dynasty, was sold at Sotheby's New York on 18 March 2014, lot 1.