A ''jue'' () is a type of ancient

Chinese ritual bronze From , elaborately decorated bronze vessels were deposited as grave goods in the tombs of royalty and nobility during the Chinese Bronze Age. Documented excavations have found over 200 pieces in a single royal tomb. They were produced for an indi ...

vessel used to serve warm wine during

ancestor-worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

ceremonies. It takes the form of an ovoid body supported by three splayed triangular legs, with a long curved spout (''liu'' 流) on one side and a counterbalancing flange (''wei'' 尾) on the other. Many examples have one or two loop handles (''pan'' 鋬) on the side and two column-shaped protuberances (''zhu'' 柱) on the top of the vessel, which were probably used to enable the vessel to be lifted using leather straps. They are often ornately decorated with ''

taotie The ''taotie'' is an ancient Chinese mythological creature that was commonly emblazoned on bronze and other artifacts during the 1st millennium BCE. ''Taotie'' are one of the Four Perils in Chinese classics like the ''Classic of Mountains an ...

'' decorations representing mythical beasts. They are in effect a small Chinese equivalent of the

ewer In American English, a pitcher is a container with a spout used for storing and pouring liquids. In English-speaking countries outside North America, a jug is any container with a handle and a mouth and spout for liquid – American "pitchers" wi ...

. The name ''jue'' is not original, but derives from the ''

Shuowen Jiezi The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the ...

'', a dictionary of the 2nd century AD. The vessel originated in Neolithic times as a pottery ware associated with the

Longshan culture The Longshan culture, also sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture, was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China from about 3000 to 1900 BC. The first archaeological find of this cu ...

, between about 2500-2000 BC. During the

Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dyn ...

and Zhou dynasties of

Bronze Age China The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, it became one of a number of designs of

s. Pottery and lead copies continued to be made and used as

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researche ...

or spirit utensils (''mingqi''). Most ''jue'' (like other Chinese bronzes) were created by casting molten metal in pottery moulds, but one ''jue'' appears to have been made using the much earlier method of hammering sheet metal that might have been introduced from western Asia, where bronze metallurgy is believed to have been developed 2,000 years before it appeared in China. ''Jue'' were the most common type of vessel found in the tombs of elites during the Shang dynasty. Their ritual use is indicated by

oracle bone Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''p ...

inscriptions that suggest that they were used to heat and pour wine during oracular ceremonies in which the owner's ancestors and the Supreme Deity (''

Shangdi Shangdi (), also called simply Di (), is the name of the Chinese Highest Deity or "Lord Above" in the Chinese theology, theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang dynasty, Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the lat ...

'' 上帝) were invoked. They were also used in temple ceremonies to mark particular festivals. Traces of soot have been found on the legs and bottoms of a few''jue'', indicating that some of them were placed directly into fires to heat their contents. However, this appears in only about 5% of the ''jue'' excavated in archeological sites, so should be viewed as an exception rather than a rule. According to the later Zhou-era '' Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial'', it was used in formal settings with a prescribed set of ritual actions. After being lifted from its bamboo hamper, it was to be rinsed, lifted with one hand, emptied, set down and put back in its hamper. The drinker would praise the wine while the host would decline to do so, out of modesty. Similar rituals were conducted with the ''zhi'' (卮/巵/梔), another type of wine vessel. Analogous ceremonies are described in the ''

Book of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The '' ...

'', another Zhou text.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jue (Vessel) Chinese bronzeware Drinkware