Page 136 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

ACH OF THESE TWO VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL gilt-copper ewers sits
atop an elaborate, conical foot pierced to form six, descending,
Escalloped leaves whose rounded tips are affixed to a flat, annular
base. Attached to the bottom of the compressed globular body, a short
vertical band resembling a footring conceals the join of the tall foot to the
body, a join that allows each ewer to rotate up to one hundred eighty
degrees on its foot. An attenuated neck rises from the globular body, its
slender form flaring gently at the top; a narrow, undecorated, vertical lip
encircles the mouth. A high, domed cover with horizontal lip caps each
ewer, the knobs in the form of seated lions, each with a ball. A long,
tapering, S-curved spout springs from the front of each ewer, its tip
reaching as high as the vessel's mouth. A long, tubular handle balances
the opposed spout; the handle surges upward, flares outward, and then
arches inward near the top of the neck, attaching a short distance below
the mouth with a short, horizontal arm. A tiny circular loop at the top of
each handle originally anchored the fine chain, now lost, that linked ewer
and cover. Complementing the inward curve at the top, the bottom of
each handle curves outward and terminates in an ornamental plaque. The
ewers are identically decorated, each having two ogival panels of floral
decoration, one on each side of the compressed globular body. One panel
features a blossoming tree peony growing beside a rock while the other
includes an old pine tree clinging to a small hillock, its gnarled trunk with
scales and its weathered branches with needles arranged in circular,
umbrella-like clusters; a bird glides toward the pine from the left, ready to
alight amidst its branches. Set against ring-punched grounds, the deco-
rative elements in the panels rise in relief and incorporate some openwork
elements. A wide, undecorated band frames each panel, a narrow line
echoing the barbs and contours of its inner edge. A simplified variant of
the pine medallion ornaments the plaque at the bottom of the handle, its
outer border punched with four abstract cloud scrolls. The engraved floral
pattern surrounding each decorative panel has an hibiscus blossom above
the panel, the flower shown in profile. Related but flowerless vegetal scrolls
embellish the covers and the upper portions of the necks; the midsec-
tions of the necks are undecorated. An engraved dragon's head with long
whiskers and pointed teeth appears at the base of each spout, the spout
issuing from its mouth. A formalized cloud scroll enlivens the vertical band
at the bottom of the globular body. Openwork patterns distinguish one leaf
from the next on the foot, the leaves having engraved lines that suggest

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