A rare archaic bronze ritual inscribed tripod wine vessel, jia

Late Shang/early Western Zhou Dynasty, BC12th-11th century

Footnotes

商末/西周初（公元前十二至十一世紀） 青銅斝
「用犬（虎）父乙」金文鑄款

Provenance: Franco Marinotti (1891-1966), and thence by descent

來源： 意大利企業家Franco Marinotti (1891-1966)收藏，並由後人保存迄今

Franco Marinotti

Coming from a small city in Italy, the extraordinary journey of Franco Marinotti (1891-1966) began in a textile company near Milan (the Filatura Cascami Seta) at the beginning of the 20th century, where he made his way up to the prominent position of managing the Warsaw and Moscow branches. This enriching experience and strong commercial relationships developed in Russia allowed him to launch his own company in 1921, the CICE - Compagnia Industriale Commercio Estero. It also enabled him to have continuous business links with Russia and South East Asia even following the October Revolution in 1917. The enterprise, which was intended to facilitate and regulate the economic relationships between Italian companies and Russia, resulted in Marinotti becoming a highly influential commercial and political figure.

In 1930, Senatore Borletti, one of the most important Milanese entrepreneurs and financiers, asked Marinotti to become managing director of the SNIA Viscosa. He subsequently became CEO in 1934 and President and shareholder of SNIA until his death in 1966. In these politically and economically troubled times, Franco Marinotti proved to be an exceptional leader bringing the company to an unprecedented international level, revealing himself as a man of great intuition and many talents, with a clear disposition for innovation. His merits were also recognised by King Umberto II, the last King of Italy, who rewarded him with the noble title of Count of Torviscosa, a town founded by Marinotti.

As a philanthropist, he was very much involved in collecting and preserving art, including Antiquities, Old Master Paintings, Oriental and Modern and Contemporary Art. His collection demonstrates his wide range of interests and passion for collecting. In 1949, he bought the Palazzo Grassi through SNIA Viscosa, and founded the 'Centro Internazionale delle Arti e del Costume'. Exceptionally, through both wars, Marinotti continued to support artists, such as the members of the Futurist Movement, as well as ceramics artists and even funded archaeological sites, demonstrating his extraordinary strong, complex character and unique vision through his career and pursuit of arts and culture. It is possible that this rare archaic bronze vessel was acquired during his travels to China in the early 20th century.

The inscription yong quan (hu) fu yi may be translated as: for the use of Ancestor Fu Yi of the Quan (or Hu) clan

The present rare lobed jia is a direct continuation of the tripod wine vessel form, elements of which can be seen as early as the late Xia period, 18th-16th century BC, continuing until the middle Western Zhou period. Towards the end of the Shang dynasty the jia had developed the li-shaped body with a tri-lobed form, as seen on the present lot, which then continued into the Western Zhou period; see C.Deydier, Archaic Chinese Bronzes, I, Xia & Shang, Paris, 1995, pp.237, 239.

Compare two very similar bronze lobed tripod vessels, jia, the first in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections and the second, the Mu Gui jia, said to be from Anyang, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by R.W.Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, Mass., 1987, pp.172-173 and 175, fig.10.2.