Page 18 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

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A RARE GREEN-GLAZED ‘FIGURAL’
WHISTLE, XUN
Song Dynasty or earlier
Of rectangular section, the instrument well
hollowed with a blowing aperture at the bottom
and a finger aperture on the back, the front
vividly moulded with the face of a bearded
foreigner with high cheek-bones, a prominent
nose, and piercing eyes beneath furrowed
brows, the forehead covered by an embossed
cloth below a rectangular tapering hat, covered
in a pale sage-green glaze stopping short of
the unglazed convex reverse.
7cm (2 3/4in) long (2).

HKD70,000 - 100,000
US$9,000 - 13,000

宋或更早 耀州窯青瓷人面塤

The present lot is a rare variation from the clay
2 or ceramic whistle known as a xun, which
is among the oldest musical instruments in
China. The xun was initially made of baked
clay or bone in an egg-shaped form, usually
containing three finger holes in front and two
2 thumb holes in the back.
AN ARCHAIC CEREMONIAL BRONZE See also a similar bronze chunyu, Warring
DRUM, CHUNYU States period, which was sold at Sotheby’s Glazed ceramic whistles of this type modelled
Late Warring States Period New York, 18-19 March 2014, lot 111; and to depict a foreigner appear to have been
Of oval section, the sides rising to the another larger example, late Warring States produced in the Tang dynasty, at kilns in
swelling, rounded shoulders, below a short period, which was sold at Christie’s New Northern China. See for example, a group
waisted neck and flared rim, set on the centre York, 19-20 September 2013, lot 1457. of green-glazed ‘foreigner’ xun whistles
of the flat top with a hollow-cast tiger with excavated at Neiqiu, Hebei Province,
open mouth and patterned sides, head and 平頂，翻沿，頂部接鑄虎鈕，虎身飾陰刻斑 illustrated in Xing kiln in its Millennium, Beijing,
legs, and an outstretched tail, the surface 紋，頸戴項圈，口大張，身微坐，尾巴成 2007, p.71. See also whistles modelled as
with mottled green and brownish patina with 鉤，四爪抓地，身若將躍，器身圓肩，腰身 monster masks, such as a Tang dynasty
some encrustation. 46cm (18in) high. 下收，素身無飾。 example illustrated in Compendium of
Collections in the Palace Museum. Ceramics,
HKD50,000 - 60,000 錞于本是中原軍旅所用打擊樂器，《周禮·地 vol. 4, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, Beijing,
US$6,500 - 7,700 官·鼓人》：「以金錞和鼓」漢代鄭玄注曰： 2013, pl.126; and two sancai-glazed
「錞，錞于也。圓如碓頭，大上小下，樂作 examples illustrated by Xie Mingliang,
戰國晚期 青銅虎鈕錞于 鳴之，與鼓相和。」後來傳至巴蜀，一直流 Zhongguo gudai qian youtao de shijie (The
行到戰國晚期，或因巴人以白虎為圖騰，蜀 world of ancient Chinese lead-glazed wares),
Provenance: 地的錞于多以虎為鈕。參考兩件四川博物館 Taipei, 2014, pls.4.37 and 5.94.
A Hong Kong private collection 和成都市文物考古隊收藏的戰國虎鈕錞于，
形制與本件相同，應為當時當地之定制，見 Compare also with a Yaozhou-glazed
來源： 《中國青銅器全集》，北京，1994年，圖版 ‘foreigner’ mask xun whistle, Tang dynasty,
香港私人收藏 184及186。亦可參考紐約蘇富比售出一件 and a Yaozhou celadon-glazed ‘foreigner’
戰國錞于，2014年3月18日-19日，拍品編 mask whistle, Song dynasty, both illustrated
Compare with two similar excavated examples 號111；以及佳士得紐約2013年9月19日-20 by Xue Dongxing, yaozhou shihua, Beijing,
also with the tiger-form knob, one in the 日售出一件戰國晚期青銅錞于，拍品編號 1992, pls.5 and 20.
Sichuan Museum and another in the Chengdu 1457。
Institute of Archaeology, Warring States See also a related green-glazed ‘figure’ whistle,
period, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi Northern Qi dynasty, which was sold at
quanji, Beijing, 1994, pls.184 and 186. Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 April 2017, lot 3325.