Page 32 - Sotheby's Important Chinese Art, Sept. 21-22, 2-21, NYC

THE OEDER HU

吉金之華：OEDER 青銅壺

REGINA KRAHL
康蕊君

On this elliptical hu wine container, the designing artisans 本壺紋飾精美繁縟，六層飾紋設計各不相同，卻風格
went to great lengths to vary the motifs of the low-relief 和諧，彰顯藝匠巧思。三層饕餮紋之角、耳及其它特
decoration in the six horizontal registers, which are all 徵處理皆有細微變化。銅壺整體線條柔和，紋飾僅見
different, and yet achieved superb stylistic harmony. The
three taotie bands differ in the treatment of their horns, ears 饕餮紋間扉棱突於表面，紋飾大小及設計皆據壺身曲
and other features, and the varying distance between the 線張力而變化，可謂紋飾呼應輪廓，典雅瑰麗。
eyes, depending on the size of the mask–besides the central
raised ribs the only prominent feature on the vessel surface– 壺身饕餮紋與抽象獸紋相間，尤見頸部的一條橫
beautifully echoes the outline of the vessel, which has its 向夔紋頗為特別。此紋飾甚為鮮見，類者可見於
widest part in the lower third.
安陽婦好墓出土例。婦好，商帝武丁之妻，其墓
The taotie bands are alternating with stylized animal borders, 乃迄今為止發現的唯一未受盜擾的商代皇陵，歷
of which the uppermost one, near the handles, shows the 史可遠溯至公元前1200年左右。參考一婦好墓出土
undulating bodies of elongated creatures curving around
unusual dotted roundels. This rare detail is similarly found 之銅帶流鋬鼎形器以及一套三聯甗，皆飾此類夔
on bronzes from the tomb of Fu Hao at Anyang, consort of 紋（圖一及二），由此可推斷本壺應製於相近時
King Wu Ding, the only undisturbed Shang royal tomb so 期，或出自為王族製作青銅器同一作坊（《殷墟婦
far discovered, which can be dated to around 1200 BC. The 好墓》，北京，1980 年，圖 17：1 及 3；圖 30；
motif appears, for example, on a spouted ding and on the 圖 31：3；彩色圖版 3 和 圖版13: 2）。婦好墓亦出土
three jars of a triple steamer set that are inscribed with the
name of Fu Hao (figs 1 and 2), suggesting that the present 一對壺例，紋飾起伏明顯，或比本品製作時期略晚，
hu was made around the same date, possibly in the same 約公元前十三世紀後期（前述出處，圖版28；其中一
workshop that also supplied these royal vessels (Yinxu Fu 例可見彩圖載於《殷墟青銅器》，北京，1985 年，
Hao mu / Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, Beijing, 圖版 23）。
1980, fig. 17: 1 and 3; fig. 30; fig. 31: 3; col. pl. 3 and pl. 13:
2). Fu Hao’s tomb itself also contained a pair of oval-bodied
hu, but with decoration in high relief considered to represent
a somewhat more advanced style, which would point to
a slightly earlier date for the present hu, in the late 13th
century BC (ibid., pl. 28; one of them illustrated in color in
Yinxu qingtong qi / Bronze Vessels from Yin Xu, Beijing, 1985,
pl. 23).

IMPORTANT ARCHAIC BRONZES FROM THE MACLEAN COLLECTION 29