Jia (vessel)
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The jia ( Chinese 斚 , Pinyin jiǎ ) is a type of Chinese ritual bronzes , which is characterized by a cup-like vessel body on three slender legs. Early forerunners of this ceramic vessel type date from the Neolithic . From the Chinese Bronze Age they were mostly made of bronze , sometimes also of ceramic . They served as cult vessels for alcoholic beverages and were used for libation .
Object description
The jia is a typical tripod, small to medium-sized. Its legs are evenly distributed around the body of the vessel. Depending on location and time of manufacture, the shape of the legs between cylindrical or triangular in cross-section legs varied without decorative or flat, stylized kite-shaped legs with preparation of the anatomical features in relief. The body of the vessel is relatively wide and appears stocky, it can rise relatively straight or it can be bulbous. It is also possible that the vessel has a neck that is never particularly pronounced, but can be optically emphasized by a decorative band. The lip of the vessel usually has a slight widening, which in jia clearly exceeds the diameter of the abdomen without a strong vascular bulge. Also typical are a handle that stands vertically above one of the legs and two often mushroom-shaped attachments on the vessel lip, which are usually arranged above the other two legs. As with most ritual vessels, there are also rectangular examples of jia that have the prefix fang ( Chinese 方 , pinyin fāng ), i.e. fangjia with four legs. The motif of the surface decoration is fed from the fundus of the representations of taotie , dragons , cicadas , vortex circles and leiwen as background or surface decoration, which were common for the Chinese Bronze Age . Some early copies also have no decoration at all.
Meaning and function
Possible forerunners of jia or the similar vessel type jue are already known from Neolithic sites in China, for example the province of Zhejiang from the fourth millennium BC. These are also three-legged, of small to medium size and have a squat vascular body. However, they differ in their strongly tapered necks and the lack of the typical mushroom-shaped lip attachments. The first jia in their typical form made of the material bronze come from the Erlitou culture and thus belong to the first types of ritual bronze. Even if there are no written records about the use of the vessels and the exact performance of the sacrificial rites , their use as ritual vessels results from the archaeological context and from later written records. The shape of the Jia , to which a spout is missing and - in which similar object type Jue this available - involves the use to Libationszwecken and not for pouring or transferring fluids. The use for alcoholic beverages, in turn, can be deduced from textual sources.
literature
- Allan, Sarah: Erlitou and the Formation of Chinese Civilization: Toward a New Paradigm , The Journal of Asian Studies 66: 461-496, Cambridge University Press 2007
- Rawson, Jessica (Ed.): Treasures from Shanghai: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades. The British Museum Press & The Shanghai Museum, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-7141-2457-5 , pp. 75, 79, 84
- Goepper, Roger (ed.): The old China. People and gods in the Middle Kingdom 5000 BC Chr. - 22 AD Hirmer, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3-7774-6640-8
