Page 160 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

ALLED A BALUSTER VASE IN ENGLISH and a fengwei zun, or
phoenix-tailed zun, in Chinese, this large, trumpet-mouthed vessel
C may have served as a receptacle for flowers or merely as a stately
ornament. The tall vase stands on three semicircular feet in the form of
looped stalks of bamboo that descend from an ornamental ring, also seg-
mented to look like bamboo, that encircles the lower edge of the base.
The truncated conical base rises in three stages, from a short, vertical ring
at the bottom through two concave registers that, together, resemble a
section of bamboo stalk. Perched atop the base, the wide, bulbous body
is of compressed globular form; its flat shoulders lead inward to a low-
relief band that receives the soaring neck. Its walls rising almost vertically,
the elongated neck culminates in a dramatically flaring mouth; a relief ring
segmented to resemble a bamboo cane borders the lip, echoing the orna-
mental ring at the bottom of the vessel. Akin to the bowstring lines similarly
placed on smaller vessels of the same type, two relief bands on the shaft
of the neck continue the bamboo theme, as do the two applique S-curved
handles above. Three high-relief lion heads ornament the shoulder, placed
one above each leg; each crisply cast lion head grasps a moveable scalloped
ring in its mouth. The flat floor of the vessel - which corresponds to the mid-
point of the base's upper concave register - has on its underside a cast
mark of six relief characters in a slightly sunken rectangular ground. The
surface displays a warm brown exterior hue, artificially created.
Like the previous zun-shaped vase decorated with butterflies [30],
this tall vase derives from the late Shang zun wine vessel. Though separated
in date by a century or less, the pieces illuminate the aesthetic sensibilities
of two very different eras. More faithful to the ancient zun in its proportions,
the previous vase reflects the conservative Ming taste for self-contained
vessels; the present vase reflects the more daring Qing taste for vessels
with dramatic profiles and applique ornaments. Among Qing ceramics, the
closest relatives to the present vessel are Kangxi-period baluster vases with
decoration in underglaze cobalt blue 1 or overglaze polychrome enamels. 2
Though not identical in shape, such Jingdezhen porcelains sufficiently
resemble the Clague vase to establish a Kangxi date for the latter.
Apart from its classic, early Qing shape, this vessel's most striking
feature is its ornament in the form of sections of bamboo stalk. Bamboo-
shaped borders first appeared in Ming lacquer; 3 used only infrequently
during the Ming, such borders gained a broader following during the
Qing, though they apparently never attained widespread popularity. A
related bronze vase in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, also

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