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Wine Cups (Jue)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Wine and food played a major role in ritual offerings to the ancestral spirits and the Supreme Ancestor (Shangdi) performed by the Shang rulers in the state cult of ancestor worship. A variety of wine vessels—each type given a specific name—was cast to bear witness to the power and artistic vitality of this remote civilization. This example of a jue wine cup is for libations. Other major types of wine vessels include jia (wine warming vessel), fangyou (square wine container), and gu (beaker with a trumpeted mouth for pouring).
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineWine Cups (Jue), c. 1200 BCE. China, Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1046 BCE), Anyang phase (c. 1250–1046 BCE). Bronze; overall: 20.3 x 19.7 cm (8 x 7 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund and Edward L. Whittemore Fund, 1960.78
