Page 162 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

style. More importantly, the character cfe (second graph in the name Xuande)
includes the horizontal stroke at its center that is invariably absent from
genuine Xuande marks in any medium - the stroke that appears between
7
7
the 'four and 'heart elements in the dictionary form of the character. 8 Also,
neither vessels of this shape nor decoration of this type was made in any
medium during the early fifteenth century.
This vessel was assembled from three separately cast sections: base,
compressed globular body, and elongated neck with trumpet mouth.
Either cast together with the base, or fused there after casting, the vessel
floor appears in the upper part of the base, even with the midpoint of the
upper concave ring. Now concealed from view, the top of the base projects
into the globular body; its upper edge finished in saw-tooth fashion, the
projecting flange was hammered flat to join the two sections together,
the join perhaps sealed and bolstered with solder. A short flange joins the
neck to the body, the join reinforced with both rivets and solder. The bam-
boo border encircling the foot was integrally cast with the base, as the
bamboo border around the lip and the double bamboo rings encircling
the shaft were integrally cast with the neck. The lion-head handles seem
to have been cast together with the body, but the semicircular bamboo-
form legs appear to have been separately cast and soldered into place. The
bamboo-form handles were independently cast and riveted into place, as
the moveable rings were separately cast and fitted into the mouths of the
lions. The warm surface hue resulted either from chemical treatments
after assembly or from the application of a brown coating.

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