56. ARCHAIC BRONZE LIBATION CUP, JUE Late Shang Dynasty (1500-1050 BC) AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUE Late Shang Dynasty (1500-1050 BC) Cast with a deep U-shaped body raised on three tapering blade legs, rising to a long U-shaped spout opposite a pointed rim, the rim with two posts each terminating in a pointed finial decorated with a whorl pattern, one side with a loop handle issuing from a bovine mask, finely decorated around the body in fine relief with a band featuring a pair of confronted taotie masks with raised eyes, all reserved on a fine leiwen ground, a single pictogram shi cast beneath the handle, the bronze with areas of pale-green malachite and cuprite encrustation. 18.5 cm (7 1/4 in) high PROPERTY FROM A GERMAN FAMILY COLLECTION 德國家族珍藏 商晚期 青銅饕餮紋爵 Provenance: Collected in China between 1894 and 1922, thence handed down in the family by descent. 來源 於1894年至1922年間得自中國，後經家族流傳至今