AN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUE Shang dynastyPROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MARK S PRATT, WASHINGTON, DCAN ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, JUEShang dynastySupported on three splayed, blade-like legs, the U-shaped body elongating at the rim to a cupped spout at one end and a raised pointed tip at the opposite end, the rim topped with two short posts with conical caps each cast with whorls, one side of the body with a simple loop handle arched above a single-character cast inscription, the body unadorned save for three raised horizontal bands encircling the upper quadrant, the surface oxidized throughout with green, brown and blue encrustations.7in (17.7cm) high商 青銅爵Provenance: F. Kusaka, Shogado, Tokyo, 14 December 1958Compare a related jue, with nearly identical decoration, sold in our San Francisco rooms, 16 December 2014, lot 8004.