Page 49 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

RIGINALLY ONE OF A PAIR OF VASES that flanked a d/ng-shaped
censer, this pear-shaped vase rests on a tall foot that rises in two
O stages, the lower stage with undecorated vertical walls and thick-
ened rim, and the upper one with ornamented concave walls bordered by a
narrow, relief ring at the top. The walls of the swelling body curve gracefully
inward to form the neck and then reverse themselves, flaring outward and
terminating in a short, vertical lip with thickened rim. The neck and lip
configuration mirrors that of the foot, the symmetry lending dignity and
stability to the shape. Ring handles - the rings square in section and issuing
from the mouths of horned, maned, leonine heads - appear at right and
left, framing the decorative band about the neck; the free-turning rings
they once supported are now lost. Apart from the leonine handle mounts,
decoration on this vase is limited to two bands, the primary one around the
neck with a taotie mask on either side set against a ground of rounded
leiwen, and the secondary one about the foot with undulating waves. The
inside of the foot is plain and the inset base is a replacement for the original.
This vessel represents a Ming-dynasty transformation of the Bronze
Age hu jar into a flower vase through a change in proportions and through
a redefinition of the profile that includes the addition of a vertical lip echoing
the footring. Though vases of this type clearly derive from Western Zhou
hu vessels, 1 their exact source remains unclear since there are no ancient
hu of identical profile. Wine storage vessels, Zhou-dynasty hu generally
had covers that protected the contents and that completed the vessel
aesthetically; lest it detract from the ornamented cover, the lip was seldom
emphasized on ancient vessels, but the cover - more specifically, the handle
crowning the cover - was typically shaped to resemble a small, inverted
footring. 2 As flower vases, Ming-dynasty archaistic vessels had no need
for a cover, so their designers were free to alter the appearance of the
lip. It is likely that a Western Zhou covered hu inspired this vase and its
congeners, the footring-like handle atop the cover serving as the model
for the lip on later pieces.
The taotie mask in the upper band of decoration derives from masks
on Shang and early Western Zhou vessels, but its ornamental flourishes
and narrow, almost squinting eyes, readily distinguish it from Bronze Age
examples. As mentioned in previous entries [3, 6], the wave pattern, seen
in the band about the foot, lacks Bronze Age antecedents, but finds clear
precedents in Song painting 3 and woodblock printing, 4 in Song architec-
tural ornament, 5 in Song bronzes, 6 and in Song and Yuan Jizhou ceramic
vessels with slip-painted decoration. 7

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 4 5