Page 128 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

liuyao is six, the total number of brushstrokes is nine, since the discontin-
uous lines of kun comprise six strokes; as confirmed by the name given
the censer type in Xuande yiqi tupu, the nine ribs, or jiuyuan, correspond to
the nine strokes of the Yijing's quintessential hexagram. 4 In addition, the
Yijing itself states that the various permutations of the liuyao's six lines
determine the fate of the sanji, 5 or 'three poles,' which refer to 'heaven,
earth, and humankind.' 6 The censer's nine ribs thus symbolize the nine
strokes of the Yijing's quintessential hexagram, and its three bands repre-
sent heaven, earth, and humankind, that is, all existence.
As previously noted [2], cylindrical zun 'warm-wine vessels' evolved
in the late Warring States period and frequently appear among Han bronzes.
Although some are embellished with hunting scenes, 7 others are more
restrained, having as decoration only two mask-and-ring handles and three
plain, low-relief bands. 8 Zun vessels with hunting scenes often stand on legs
in the form of crouching bears, but those with relief bands usually rest on
cabriole legs. Though they seldom imitated the form of other Bronze Age
vessels, Tang craftsmen produced three-legged vessels of cylindrical zun-
10
9
shape in pottery and bronze, usually as cosmetic boxes and incense burn-
ers rather than as wine vessels; small horizontal flutes usually ornament the
ceramic examples top to bottom, while bronze ones sometimes have hori-
zontal registers of openwork floral decoration. During the Northern Song
period, potters at the Ru kilns revived the Han interpretation of the cylin-
drical zun-form for their censers; they took the more restrained Han type
11
as their model, following it with great fidelity. Potters at the Ding kilns also
took the restrained Han type as their model; imitating it less faithfully, they
produced cylindrical zun-shaped censers enlivened with six ribs, typically
arranged with three about the midsection, two about the lip, and a single
one about the bottom, just above the cabriole legs. 12 Their imagination
sparked by ribbed Ding-ware censers, Southern Song potters fashioned cylin-
drical zun-shaped censers in guan ware, increasing the number of ribs to
13
nine and arranging them in three bands. The tops of the cabriole legs
interrupt the lowest rib in the band around the base in such guan-ware
censers. With one triple-rib band each around the top, mid-section, and
base, the harmonious guan-ware censers became the classical interpre-
tation of the shape in the eyes of succeeding generations.

Xuande period designers clearly modeled their zun-shaped bronze
censers on Southern Song guan-ware incense burners, but they raised the
lowest band of ribs so that its lines are continuous and they emblazoned

1 2 4 10 C H I N A ' S R E N A I S S A N C E IN B R O N Z E