Page 61 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

OST LIKELY A FLOWER VASE, this zun-shaped vessel has at its
base a plain, bowl-like body set on a decorated, splayed foot; its
Mmost dramatic features are the cusped, trumpet-shaped mouth that
springs from the body's crisp, angular shoulder, and the free-standing
figural group on the shoulder that comprises two gentlemen and an ox.
The low-relief lines, descending from the eight indentations at the lip on
both interior and exterior, segment the upper portion of the vessel so that
it resembles an open blossom, the individual segments suggesting flower
petals. The thickened mouth rim underscores the floral shape, its bracketed
edge on the exterior complementing the indentations at the lip. The figural
group includes two standing gentlemen facing the viewer, one each at right
and left, with an ox between them; the ox strides toward the bearded
gentlemen at the viewer's left, his course monitored by the man at the
right who holds the rope fastened about the bovine's neck. The figures wear
hats and long, flowing robes of the type usually associated with scholars;
the gentleman on the left touches his left ear with his right hand. The
/e/wen-diapered background on the trumpet neck serves as a foil against
which appear pictorial elements that create a backdrop for the figural group.
A crane flies in the sky above the ox, for example, its wings outstretched,
its legs and feet retracted. Below the crane and immediately above the ox
is a three-legged stand from which hangs a gourd suspended by a string.
A small hillock with a flowering orchid at its crest appears between the ox
and the man holding the rope, the hillock firmly set on the narrow raised
band that separates the neck from the shoulder of the vessel. A pine
towers over the rope-wielding gentleman, its boughs spreading over several
segments of the neck. A pine grows beside a rock at the back of the vessel.
Beside the gentleman at the left a waterfall thunders downward, its origin
a mystery, but its striated surface clearly the source of the undulating
waves that engulf the vessel's shoulder. The lowest portion of the shoulder
and the bowl-like body of the vessel are undecorated, harmonizing with
the plain circular footring and the cusped mouth. The concave register
around the splayed foot features rolling waves that mirror those on the
shoulder. The inside of the foot is plain and the inset base, apparently
original, is flat. The interior of the vase is undecorated, except for the
thread-relief lines that descend from the cusps at the mouth.
The scene on this vase depicts the story of Xu You and Chao Fu,
reclusive sages who, legend relates, were counsellors to the mythical
Emperor Yao. When Emperor Yao suggested abdicating his throne in favor
of Xu You, the latter declined and fled to a quiet place with a waterfall,

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 5 7