Page 147 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

ENTLY SEGMENTED INTO SIX LOBES, this ewer has a generally
cylindrical body whose walls rise vertically from the flat base and
G then turn inward at the top to form the narrow shoulder. The neck
rises from the center of the relief, gilded, chrysanthemum collar, an elabo-
ration of the type which appeared in the late Ming [see 19]. Its short but
emphatic lip echoes the angled ledge at its base. A lightly domed cover
with horizontal lip conceals the vessel's mouth, its knob in the form of a
cut branch of blossoming plum. The ewer's long, S-curved spout has a wide,
ringed base that resembles a bamboo rhizome in form and that gives rise
to the two newly sprouted bamboo stalks that ornament the shaft; one
of the stalks has a pair of leaves while the other incongruously has a plum
blossom. Sectioned to resemble a bamboo stalk, a long, tubular handle bal-
ances the opposed spout visually as well as thematically. The ear-shaped
handle flares outward and then arches inward at a point even with the top
of the cover's dome, attaching just below the shoulder with a short, angled
arm; applique branches of blossoming chrysanthemum ornament the base
of the handle, the stalk of one chrysanthemum overlapping a portion of
the vessel wall. Appearing within elongated, slightly sunken, vertical panels
and set against ring-punched grounds, low-relief floral sprays embellish
four of the ewer's six lobes, the handle and spout claiming the remaining
two. Of generally rectangular form, the decorative panels have straight
sides, ogival-arched tops, and trefoil-arched bottoms. On one side, the floral
sprays include a chrysanthemum and a branch of blossoming plum and on
the other, a peony and a second branch of plum; occupying the ogival arch
at the top of the panel, a bird or butterfly hovers over each floral spray.
Incised peony scrolls enliven the neck and cover, while a band of chevrons
encircles the neck. Gilding brightens the neck, cover, and chrysanthemum
collar as well as the spout, handle, and decorative panels; a narrow,
undulating band of gilding ornaments the lowermost portion of the vessel,
though the base itself is undecorated. Chemically treated, the ungilded
surfaces boast a dark, gunmetal gray finish.
For hot water 1 or warmed wine, tall ewers with long spouts and fluted
sides had appeared as early as the Song dynasty, in both silver and ceramic
ware; 2 such early examples typically had a long neck with a flaring lip and
a rounded or ovoid body, however. Seldom produced in the Ming, tall,
cylindrical ewers with short necks, long spouts, and ornamental handles
gained popularity during the Qing, occasionally appearing in paintings
3
and prints. Although Ming and Qing connoisseurs of tea preferred to use
small teapots of earth-toned ceramic ware made at the Yixing kilns (near

T I I E R O B E R T II. C L A G U E C O L L E C T I O N 1 4 3