The Earliest China by Hong Xu

Author:Hong Xu
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9789811663871
Publisher: Springer Singapore

9.5 Invention of the First Bronze Drinking Vessel, Jue (爵)

Jue is a small vessel for warming wine and pouring wine. In terms of the overall form and function, the origin of Jue seems to be related to Gui (鬶) or He, but it is different in size, position of the handle and shape of the feet, which should have been originally created by the Erlitou culture. We can often see in a costume drama that nobilities drink a toast by raising the vessel of Jue, but whether Jue directly used to drink wine was is still in doubt. Among the pottery Jue, there has always been the existence of sand-tempered pottery wares (in order to prevent the object on fire from cracking, sand is mixed into the pottery clay, which is the main feature of cooking wares), and traces of crock were found at the bottom of some pottery vessels of Jue, suggesting that it had the function of warming wine. It may be a more reasonable explanation of pouring the warm wine from Jue into Gu to drink.

Bronze Jue should be made by imitating pottery Jue with a height of 10–20 cm, and this is a type of bronze drinking vessel that was first made in the Erlitou capital. At the Erlitou site, more than 10 pieces of bronze Jue have been so far unearthed, all belonging to the late stage of Erlitou culture. The bronze Jue was further developed during the Erligang cultural period, the drinking vessel assemblage composed of Jue and Gu was representative and continuously lasted till the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Some scholars have noted the asymmetry of Jue in shape. Differing from Gui (鬶) and He, the handle of Jue is not in line with its spout, but is perpendicular to the mouth of the spout, and is located on its right side. The only bronze Jue with decorative pattern (the waist decorated with banded linked-bead patterns) unearthed from Erlitou and bronze vessels of Jue decorated with animal facial patterns from the Erligang period to the Yin-Ruins period all have the patterns decorated on the other side of the handle; it is known that a decorated side is on the front, and a side of the handle is on the back. One of the three feet is right below the handle with the other two on both sides, on the front. This principle of shape was strictly observed without exception (Fig. 9.7).

Fig. 9.7Pottery Jue and bronze Jue. The special asymmetric principle of making utensils that Jue embodies, which ignored the existence of “left-handed” groups, had been strictly observed for more than a thousand years and finally withdrew from the stage of history until the Western Zhou Dynasty. From the special way of handholding and pouring wine, we can see the subtlety of ritual implementation

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