Page 238 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

3. Compare Tsang and Moss, Chinese Metalwork, Wu, Unearthing China's Past, Boston: Museum of
46, numbers 9-10. Fine Arts, 1973, 177, number 90; Robert D. Mowry,
4. See Loehr, Ritual Vessels, 115, number 49; 'Koryo Celadons,' Orientations (Hong Kong), vol-
Delbanco, Art from Ritual, 83, number 29; 99-101, ume 17, number 5, May 1986, 34, figures 15-16.
numbers 37-38; Hayashi, In Shu seidoki soran, plate 11. See Mowry, 'Koryo Celadons,' 28, figure 6; 35,
volume, 82-136. figure 18.
5. See Yang Boda, Zhongguo meishu quanji: 12. See Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceram-
Yuqi, 145, number 259; Arts Council of Great Britain, ics, color plate 11 and 80, number 72.
Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, 101-102, num- 13. See Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, 43-44, plates
bers 328-330; Li and Watt, The Chinese Scholar's 31-32; 58-59, plates 46-47.
Studio, 113, number 51. 14. The Tuancheng, or Round Fort, is a walled enclo-
6. See Mowry, Handbook, 67, number 1979.146; sure adjoining the Beihai, or North Lake, in Beijing.
Hasebe, So, 229, figure 88; Palace Museum, Gugong For illustrations of the massive wine bowl, see Yang
bowuyuan cang ci xuanji, number 26; Percival Boda, Zhongguo meishu quanji: Yuqi, 148-49, num-
David Foundation, Imperial Taste, 43, number 18; bers 264-66; S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Jade
45, number 20. Carving, London: Lund Humphries, 1950, 74-78, and
7. The often debated question of whether Hu plate 28a; S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved
Wenming studied original examples of archaic Jades, London: Faber and Faber, 1968, 89, and plate
ritual bronze vessels or whether he had available 78; Zhou Nanquan and Wang Mingshi, 'Beijing
only woodblock-printed illustrations in published Tuancheng nei Dushan Dayuhai kao' (Research on
catalogs of ancient bronzes can be raised but not the Great Black-jade Wine Bowl in the Round Fort,
settled here. Hu Wenming and other bronze casters Beijing), Wenwu, 1980, number 4, 23-26, and plate
of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing periods were 7, figures 1-3; Watt, Chinese Jades, 22, figure 2.
certainly familiar with such catalogs; at the same 15. See James C.Y. Watt assisted by Michael Knight,
time, well known casters must have had access to Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle
original ancient bronzes through their clients Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1989,
(some of whom doubtless wanted archaistic vessels) 66, number 41 (and front cover). Set against an
and through antique dealers (some of whom likely openwork ground of rocks, lingzhi fungi, and
commissioned high-quality fakes for sale as orig- flowering plants, two related feiyu (misidentified
inals). In addition, since any claim to status in as phoenixes) emblazon a Yuan to early Ming jade
traditional China had, de rigueur, to be legitimized belt plaque in the British Museum, London. Prob-
by knowledge (and preferably possession) of such ably of Yuan date, a jade pendant in the National
antiquities as bronzes, jades, paintings, inkstones, Palace Museum, Taipei, has been worked in the
and seals, it is entirely possible that a successful form of a feiyu with feathered wings. See, respec-
craftsman of Hu Wenming's fame and presumed tively, Arts Council of Great Britain, Chinese Jade
means might have owned a small collection of Throughout the Ages, 107, number 347; National
antiques, especially of ancient bronzes. Under the Palace Museum compiler, Gugong guyu tulu (Illus-
circumstances, this author contends that most trated Catalogue of Ancient Jade Artifacts in the
sophisticated foundrymen had access to both National Palace Museum), Taipei: Guoli gugong
actual bronzes and illustrated catalogs, drawing bowuyuan, 1982, 189, number 350.
upon one or the other as befitted the work at hand 16. Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection of
or, in the market economy of the late Ming, drawing the Seattle Art Museum, 66.
upon whichever produced the most salable results. 17. Addis, Chinese Ceramics from Datable Tombs,
8. Similar censers are known; see Tsang and Moss, 70, number 33d. It should be noted that feathered
Chinese Metalwork, 45-46, numbers 8-9; 63, number wings continued to be used for a variety of myth-
44 (by Hu Wenming's son, Hu Guangyu); Goedhuis, ical animals in the Ming dynasty, as revealed by
Chinese and Japanese Bronzes, number 59; Sydney two glazed tiles depicting rampant rams with
L. Moss Ltd compiler, The Literati Mode: Chinese feathered, bird-like wings from the Bao'en Pagoda,
Scholar Paintings, Calligraphy and Desk Objects, Nanjing, erected in 1412; see Addis, Chinese Ceram-
London: Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 1986, 291, number 145; ics from Datable Tombs, 78-79, numbers 34 e-f.
293, number 147 (by Hu Guangyu); Sydney L. Moss 18. See A.D. Brankston, Early Ming Wares of
compiler, The Second Bronze Age: Later Chinese Chingtechen, Beijing: Henri Vetch, 1938, plate 10b.
Metalwork, London: Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 1991, num- 19. See Mowry, Handbook, 77, number 1979.173.
bers 88-89 (both by Zhu Zhenming of Yunjian). 20. See Cammann, 'Some Strange Ming Beasts,'
9. Cammann, 'Some Strange Ming Beasts,' 94. 96, figure 2.
10. See Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and 21. See The Joint Board of Directors of The National
Marc F.Wilson editors, Handbook of the Collections Palace Museum and the National Central Museum
in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and compilers, Blue-and-white Ware of the Ming
Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City MO: Dynasty, Hong Kong: Cafa Company, 1963, book 6,
William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, 1973, fifth edition, 64-65, plates 18-18e; City of Venice compiler,
volume 2, 91, number 50-10; Jan Fontein and Tung Mostra d'Arte Cinese (Exhibition of Chinese Art),
2 3 4 10 C H I N A ' S R E N A I S S A N C E I N B R O N Z E