A RARE CRYSTAL-INLAID RED AND BLACK LACQUERED RITUAL SPOON,BI.

A Rare Crystal-Inlaid Red and Black Lacquered Ritual Spoon, BI. Western Han Dynasty (206-BC-AD 9). The spoon has a long slender handle and a flat ovoid bowl centered with a faceted rock crystal insert. It is decorated on the bowl with red scrollwork painted on a dark brownish-black lacquer ground. 10 ¼ in. long, composite stand, plexiglass case. Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1995. J.J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 2120. Chinese Art from J.J. Lally & Co., Christie's auction 23 March, 2023. Lot Essay: A similarly decorated lacquer ritual spoon of closely related form but without a rock crystal insert was discovered at the Qin State cemetery in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei province, and is illustrated in Yunmeng Shuihudi Qin mu ( Qin Tombs in, Shuihudi Yunmeng County), Beijing, 1981, pl. 17,no. 2 and in a line drawing on p. 33, pl.34. Archaeologists and scholars today refer to this form of long-handled spoon as bi. According to the Eastern Han dynasty historian Zheng Xuan (AD 127-200) in his commentary on ancient rituals, the bi was used to handle and divide food during ceremonies.