Page 52 - CHRISTIE'S Marchant Nine Decades of Chinese Art 09/14/17
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MARCHANT: NINE DECADES IN CHINESE ART
712 A MASSIVE BRONZE ‘CHAMPION VASE’ The size and quality of casting of the present ‘champion vase’
makes it exceptionally rare. Compare another unusually large
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644) bronze ‘champion vase’ dated to the Ming dynasty from
the collection of Heber Reginald Bishop (1840-1902), sold
The vessel is formed by two conjoined cylindrical receptacles, at Christie’s New York, 18-19 September 2014, lot 1041.
each fnely cast in two registers with archaistic scrolls and Another example in the Victoria and Albert Museum is
lobed bands on a key-fret ground. The two receptacles are illustrated by R. Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990,
supported on the back of a grinning mythical beast crouching fg. 57, where the author notes that the vessel was probably
with its front and back legs braced to the sides. On the front assembled in the Song to early Ming period, from seven or
side a slender phoenix stands on the beast’s head, its stylized more pieces, including two Han dynasty tubular fttings,
square-scroll wings spreading over the upper register of the probably originally from a chariot. This composite example
receptacles, and on the back side a further mythical beast perhaps provides a clue to the origins of the intriguing
forms a handle. The creatures are incised with archaistic ‘champion vase’ form, which became popular during the
patterns, and the dark reddish-brown patina has some greenish Ming and Qing.
and ochre mottling.
18 in. (45.8 cm.) high 明 銅英雄雙聯瓶
$35,000-45,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, England, acquired in Shanghai, 1920s, by
an English employee of British American Tobacco working
in Shanghai, and subsequently kept at the family home in
Stamford, Lincolnshire.
(another view)
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