Page 201 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

HIS WATER CONTAINER for the scholar's desk was cast in the form
of a recumbent lion. Lying on its stomach, the lion lifts its head from
T its exceptionally long-clawed paws and turns to its right, so that the
composition forms a C-curve. The lion's eyes are open and its lips parted,
exposing its teeth, which imparts a ferocious demeanor. The tightly curled
mane frames the lion's face. Smoothly modeled knobs along the back
indicate the spine, while subtly modeled vertical ridges suggest ribs. The
long tail lies close to the body, its curls echoing those of the mane.
Perhaps originally fitted with a cover, the circular opening in the back
permitted the vessel's hollow interior to be filled with water. The lion's left
rear leg was entirely omitted. The base is flat and plain.
Preferably a detached pavilion within a garden, at least a separate
room within a house, the studio was a retreat in which the scholar could
study, paint, write poetry, examine antiquities, and entertain friends. Scholars
took great pride in their studios and appointed them in an elegant manner
1
that expressed their learning and taste. Apart from ink, inkstone, brush,
and paper, the so-called wenfang sibao, or 'four treasures of the scholar's
studio' that were actually used for writing and painting, numerous other
implements were crafted for the desk: brushpots, wristrests, paper-weights
[45-47], brush washers, water droppers [44] and brushrests [48, 49]. Since
water was required not only for preparing ink but for rinsing the brush, a
variety of small vessels evolved for keeping a supply at hand, of which this
lion-shaped container is one.
Fashioned in jade, bronze, and porcelain, animal-shaped vessels were
especially popular as water containers during the Song, Yuan, and early
Ming. The very long claws, 2 ferocious demeanor, smooth body surfaces,
plain base, and limited number of spinal knobs 3 distinguish this lion as a
work of the Yuan or early Ming period. With its very regular curls, the
mane resembles those of lion-head handles on Xuande bronze censers. 4
Small sculptures rather than vessels, recumbent dogs and lions crafted in
jade in the Tang and Song usually have more strongly articulated ribs and
spines, 5 whereas ones from the mid- and late Ming tend to have more
insistently patterned surfaces (with tufts of fur on either side of the spine,
for example). In addition, mid- and late Ming examples are typically less
ferocious and more contrived, shown following a leader [14], playing with
a brocaded ball, or grasping a blossoming branch or a stalk of lingzhi
fungus in their mouths [compare 13]. The lack of cold work on this integrally
cast vessel also points to its early date and associates it with Yuan and
early Ming bronze vessels. 6

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T H E R O B E R T II. C L A G U E C O L L E C T I O N