Page 72 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

OUNTED ON A LIGHTLY S P L A Y E D , CIRCULAR FOOT, this gui-
shaped censer of raised copper has a circular bowl whose walls
Mgently constrict to form the neck, and then flare slightly to define
the mouth. Attached cast bronze handles appear at right and left; deco-
rated with a projecting spur at the bottom, and with flame-like tufts of fur
and ring-punched texturing along their sides, the ring handles issue from
the mouths of maned mythical animal heads. Originally gilded, plain relief
bands divide the vessel surface into three horizontal registers, each with
low-relief decoration set against a textured ground. Encircling the swollen
belly of the censer, the principal band features six fanciful sea creatures,
or haishou, arranged in two symmetrical groupings, on a ground of rolling
waves, each wave comprising three, four, or five concentric arcs, as space
allows; breakers appear on either side of the handles and at the bottom of
the register, while raised circular dots, seemingly randomly placed among
the waves, suggest sea foam. A fe/yu, 1 or flying fish-dragon, rises upward
in the center of each side, occupying the place of honor and standing as
the principal decorative emblem. On one side, the long-snounted, single-
horned, fish-tailed feiyu looks toward its proper left, its outspread feathered
wings resembling those of a bird, its stout body resembling that of a fish.
Flanking the feiyu, two hoofed quadrupeds, each shown in profile, gallop
toward the center of the register; the winged equine on the (viewer's) right,
probably a haima (literally, 'sea horse'), gazes directly ahead at the fe/yu;
the wingless equine-like animal on the left, perhaps a qilin (due to its seem-
ingly cloven hooves), looks over its shoulder, towards it tail. Although the
central feiyu on the other side of the censer also has a long snout, a bipar-
tite fish tail, and a scale-covered body, it differs from the first in having a
two-pronged horn, a lithe, dragon-like body, and wings resembling those
of a bat; it also varies from the first in having a two pairs of fins - a caudal
pair and a ventral pair under the wings - and in looking toward its proper
right. Two striding, maned, lion-like animals with carefully detailed spines
flank the feiyu, each shown in three-quarter view from above and each
looking inward toward the awesome fish-dragon; the hornless, ruy/-nosed
creature on the viewer's left might be a lion [shizi; compare 43], while the
single-horned, fox-snouted one on the right might be a baize or a b/x/e. 2
Wisps of flame emanate from all six animals, signaling their extraordinary
powers. On both faces of the censer a bird flutters on either side of the
feiyu, separating the benevolent creature from its attendants. The top
register of decoration has two pairs of highly stylized, confronting birds,
one pair on either side of the censer; the butterfly-like motif that appears

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C H I N A ' S R E N A I S S A N C E IN B R O N Z E