Ritual Wine Vessel

Original Language TitleJia

CultureChinese

Date12th-11th century B.C.E.

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 20 × 9 1/8 inches (50.8 × 23.18 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number58-9

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Gallery Label

Although conventionally termed “wine,” ancient Chinese alcohol was made from fermented grain—millet in the north and rice in the south. In the colder months it was drunk warm and vessels such as the jia were used for heating the liquid over a fire. The belly of the vessel is decorated with a monster mask divided by a central ridge and flanked by a small dragon standing on its nose.

Provenance

With C. T. Loo, Inc., New York, stock no. G9136, by February 1951-1958;

Purchased from C. T. Loo Chinese Art by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

NOTES:

[1] This object was on loan from Loo to the Nelson-Atkins from February 1951 until its purchase in 1958. C. T. Loo/Frank Caro archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy of stock card in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files. Following C. T. Loo's retirement, C. T. Loo, Inc. was dissolved by the summer of 1953 and the New York business continued as C. T. Loo Chinese Art under the direction of Frank Caro.

Published References

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 169 (repro.).

Shantung Wen-wu Hsuan Chi, Collection of Historical and Cultural Relics Found in Shantung Province (Peking: 1959), 29-31 (repro.).

Mario Bussagli, “Bronzi Cinese,” (Milano: 1966), 37, pl. 15 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 10 (repro.).

Marc F. Wilson, “Form and Design: Chinese Archaic Bronzes and Jades” Apollo, special issue for the Asian art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. XCVII, no. 133 (March 1973), 49, pl. 3 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 274 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 289, pl. 19 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.