Help With Marks On Chinse Bronze Wine Cups

They are both identical but the casting on one appears a bit different. Both have the same markings and one is marked "3" on the bottom. I am thinking they are more on the recent side but curious what the marks could be about. Maybe just decorative?

 

Hello,

I cant help much with the marks but they are decorative pieces meant to imitate Chinese ancient bronzes. Their name is Jue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jue_(vessel)

 

Thanks, I know what they are.
Found an image of the same cup here but no description
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=66565078
Maybe I can try to contact the photographer and ask him if he knows more about the piece.

 

The marks on the tripod legs of yours are identical to the marks on this Jue vessel:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jue_vessel_IMGP7951.jpg

The marks may be Chinese characters, The top mark looks like the drawn bow and arrow that is the zhong character. If it is then it might say "Zhongguo Zhi Zao - China Made." See #267 under the "Zhongguo Zhi Zao, 中国制造 China Made" section. about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the way down the page:
http://www.gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturychina.shtml

Honestly I can't see the marks well enough to tell. They might also be some type of decoration. According to DanielD informative link about Jue vessels on Wikipedia:

"As with other shapes, the surface may be decorated with taotie."

I'm not sure what "taotie" is, but suspect it refers to the design around the body of the vessel rather then the marks on the legs??? I think "taotie" tends to be a face/mask decoration?? Anyways here's a link to Wikipedia's explanation of "taotie."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taotie

I also found that Chinese Bronze Dings - a cauldron, another Chinese Bronze ritual vessel, had "taotie" decorations on the body **and** were decorated with inscriptions. It doesn't say exactly where the inscriptions were on the dings. These inscriptions sometime ID the owner, their family history, poem, a story, or etc. Possibly the marks on the legs of your Jues maybe one of these inscriptions?? Here's what it says about the inscriptions. The last paragraph in the "Decoration" section:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_(vessel)#Decoration

--- Susan

 

The picture on the wiki was uploaded by the same person as on the shutterstock site. It is by the photographer Nikodem Nijaki. It says source: own work , that I guess would mean that he took the photo by himself. From the pictures in his portfolio seems like he is a not a collector of Asian items. So, I guess he must have taken the photo in a museum or an exhibition. Of course he could have bought it from a flea market because he liked it or saw it in a friend's place or so.
I wrote him an email to check if he knows more about the vessel but no reply yet.
I found on wiki about the Chinese bronze inscriptions/scripts.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions

Of course the list with the examples is not complete but I guess there will be other sources with more examples of the scripts. I just don't know if it's worth further investigation.

According to the wiki link:
"Early bronze inscriptions were almost always cast, while later inscriptions were often engraved after the bronze was cast"
I am not sure what is the case on mine pieces.