The University of Kansas

Unknown artist (China)

Jue (ceremonial wine vessel), mid-late Shang dynasty
bronze
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. H.K. Lee, 76.90

By the end of the second millennium B. C. E. the Chinese had developed highly skilled techniques of bronze casting. An array of bronze vessels in different shapes—each with its own name and function—was produced during the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Pictorial art became popular by the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century B. C. E. Favorite subjects included portraits of revered sages, historical events, legends, mythology, and hunting or farming scenes. The shallow relief carvings on the interior walls of the Wu Family Shrine (represented in the Spencer Asian Gallery in a rubbing) provide us with excellent examples of early pictorial art. The images have been copied from the walls by covering them with a sheet of damp paper and then painstakingly rubbing an inked pad over the surface so that the raised portions of the carving appear in dark ink on the paper.