Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Ritual tripod wine vessel, or jue, with taotie mask pattern

  • loan

Glossary (2)

jue, taotie

  • jue

    Chinese bronze ritual wine vessel.

  • taotie

    Stylized monster mask decoration with prominent eyes and scrolling horns. The motif has been known since the 1100s. Its significance remains mysterious.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • The Barlow Collection by the University of Sussex

    The Barlow Collection

    Similar pieces were discovered in the tomb of Lady Hao, consort of king Wu Ding, at Anyang, Henan province, who was buried with very rich provisions around 1200 BC.

    The piece has a very deep U-shaped cup, raised on three pointed, slightly curved triangular legs, and terminating in a long chanelled spout, flanked by two vertical posts, opposite a pointed collar. The cup has a curved handle with a pictograph underneath, and is decorated with a broad band of taotie designs, the masks composed of fine linear scroll motifs with prominent boss-shaped eyes, centred on and separated by notched flanges. Above the band are triangular cicada motifs, which extend into elongated blades under the spout and collar. The posts are flat on the outside and curved on the inside, capped by conical tops decorated with spiralling motifs. The piece is thickly encrusted with green patina. The pictograph is a clan sign in the shape of a dog.

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