Provenance:
J.M. Davenport Collection
Acquired from Jade House, Hong Kong, on August 15th, 1960 (original dealer invoice)

Illustrated:
"Chinese Jade, The J.M. Davenport Collection," Jadestone, 2008.

Reference/Notes:
*While the form of this vessel owes it’s origin to the Shang Dynasty, the decorative elements such as the ribbed mid section are patterned after gui dating to the Western Zhou period. A simi- lar, but still more ornate bronze example dated to the Early Western Zhou Period is illustrated by d’Argence in Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, plate XXXI.

*The handles of this vessel are seemingly derived from the creature depicted on late Shang to Early Western Zhou period handled buckets, yu, in the form of a mythical creature breathing “life breath” or qi, into a human figure. An example of these bronzes is illustrated by Treager in Chinese Art, page 32.

*Based on the records kept by Mr. Davenport and invoices, this item appears to be one of the first three jade objects he purchased, the others being the previous article in this catalogue and a spinach green jade bowl. If this is in fact the case, Mr. Davenport’s interest in archaism may likely stem from this example being the foundation of the collection.