Page 156 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

its somewhat more squat proportions - distinguish it from the elegantly
attenuated gu. Eclipsed by the gu's popularity, the trumpet-mouthed zun
was seldom crafted in either bronze or ceramic ware during the Song, but
with the growing interest in antique forms, it attracted a following in the
late Ming and Qing periods. Several ceramic vases of zun shape were re-
covered from the early seventeenth-century tomb of the Wanli Emperor,
some from the Jingdezhen kilns with enamel decoration, 3 and some from
the Dehua kilns, seemingly undecorated. 4 In fact, the nearest parallels to
the Clague vase in shape are porcelain zun with lightly incised floral deco-
ration, made at the Dehua kilns in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth
century. 5 Closely akin to the Dehua zun-shaped vase recovered from the
Wanli Emperor's tomb, such vases have the same basic shape and propor-
tions as the Clague vase; they even have the paired bowstring lines above
and below the central knob, exactly as in the Clague vase. The similarity
strongly suggests that the Clague vase was made at about the same time.
An occasional theme of both poetry and painting, the butterfly has
ancient cultural associations in China. The Warring States-period philosopher
Zhuangzi (traditionally, 369-286 BC) - whose writings, along with those of
Laozi (traditionally, 604-531 BC), constitute the foundation of the Daoist
tradition - mentioned butterflies in several parables. In the most famous one,
he relates that he once dreamt he was a butterfly; when he awoke, he
paused to wonder how he could determine objectively whether he is a man
who dreamt he was a butterfly or whether he is now a butterfly dreaming
6
he is a man. An old Chinese tale, said to be from Zhuangzi, tells of a young
student who, chasing a beautiful butterfly, unwittingly stumbled into the
private garden of a magistrate. Seeing the official's daughter in the garden,
the student was so stricken by her beauty that he vowed to work industri-
ously, and to win her as his bride; in devoting himself to hard work, he not
only gained the young woman's hand in marriage but rose to a position of
high rank. 7 Its affinity for flowers makes the butterfly a natural symbol for
summer. Because of Zhuangzi's dream, the butterfly also represents joy,
due to the joy the butterfly experienced in fluttering from flower to flower,
and symbolizes philosophical musings; in addition, as in the tale about the
student finding a bride, the butterfly emblemizes conjugal felicity.
The association of butterflies with flowers not only underscores the
function of this vessel as a vase but recalls a well known story, possibly
true, involving the Northern Song Emperor Huizong (1082-1135; reigned
1100-25). An accomplished painter and calligrapher, the Emperor once
selected as the theme for a painting competition a line from an old poem

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