Page 62 - Sotheby's Important Chinese Art, Sept. 21-22, 2-21, NYC
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                        AN ARCHAIC BRONZE WINE VESSEL AND         their Bronzes, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2018, cat.                   A PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE WATER BASINS     upper border of the band and its sinuous body descending
                        COVER (HE)                                no. 101. Another, with composite human-bird-form legs and                      (JIAN)                                    and forming a hook within the unit, its mate taking the
                        EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, WARRING STATES      a solid handle cast in intricate high relief imitating openwork,               EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE 6TH - EARLY    opposite form from the lower border of the band, and the
                                                                  from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong
                                                                                                                                                                                           bodies of the two interlacing within the unit. The bodies of
                        PERIOD                                    Kong 3rd November 1996, lot 597. More recently, a he of the                    5TH CENTURY BC                            the dragons are patterned with modified leiwen spirals.
                        the globular body supported on three cabriole bird-shaped   present type, but with bird-and-human legs, a solid handle,   each with deep rounded sides set over a low foot, the   Other bronze vessels belonging to this group and bearing
                        feet, each bird’s head modeled in the round, the wings   and bands of copper inlay, sold at Christie’s New York, 24th    sides cast with two registers of dragon motifs, the upper   interlocking dragon bands of the same design include a jian
                        spread against the vessel’s lower body, the body cast   September 2020, lot 1510. Related he of the period, but          register comprised of units of two interlocking serpentine   from the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection and now in the
                        with three low-relief registers each divided by recessed   with slightly simpler decoration and supported on cabriole    dragons, the lower register with units of single serpentine   collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (coll. no. 1930.704),
                        bands, the lowest register with repeating pairs of felines   legs, include one excavated in Chengdu, Sichuan province    dragons with their bodies coiled in alternating directions, the   published in Charles Fabens Kelley and Ch’en Meng-Chia,
                        each intertwined with a serpent against a stippled ground   bearing an inscription dedicated to Marquis Chun Cheng,      widest part of the basin set with a pair of taotie masks each   Chinese Bronzes from the Buckingham Collection, Chicago,
                        and bordered by bands of triangular spirals, the middle   and published in Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi        suspending a loose ring handle, the slightly recessed neck   1946, pl. LI. A number of ding and covers bearing this
                        register with pairs of confronting mythical beasts each with   yanjiu: Dong Zhou pian, xia [Study of bronzes of the Xia,   cast with scroll-like interlocking serpentine dragons beneath   distinctive band design also survive, include one formerly in
                        bird-like heads, sinuous bodies, and clawed feet against   Shang, and Zhou periods: Eastern Zhou, vol. 2], Shanghai,     the flat rim (2)                          the collections of David David-Weill and Arthur M. Sackler
                        a spiral ground, the top register with pairs of confronting   2004, pl. 628; one with inlaid copper details from the Arthur   Diameter 14 in., 35.6 cm             and published in Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes
                        deer against a spiral ground, the shoulder set with a bird-  M. Sackler Collection and now in the National Museum of                                               from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, New York,
                        form spout with a hinged upper beak to allow for pouring,   Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (acc.   PROVENANCE                                1995, no. 16; one excavated from Tomb 251, Jinshengcun,
                        all surmounted by an arched openwork feline-form handle   no. S1987.315a-b), published in Jenny F. So, Eastern Zhou      Jingguantang Collection.                  Taiyuan, Shanxi province (ibid., fig. 16.1); one in the National
                        connected to the stepped circular cover by an integral chain,   Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III,   Christie’s New York, 18th September 1997, lot 120.  Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
                        the patina dark gray with areas of malachite and reddish   New York, 1995, pl. 84; one sold first in our London rooms,                                             D.C. (acc. no. F1947.20a-b); and another in the Shanghai
                        oxidation                                 17th November 1999, lot 703, and later in these rooms, 21st                    EXHIBITED                                 Museum, Shanghai, exhibited in Treasures from the Shanghai
                        Length 10½ in., 26.7 cm                   September 2006, lot 153; and one sold in these rooms, 31st                     Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition. Selected   Museum: 6000 Years of Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum,
                                                                  March - 1st April 2005, lot 154A.                                              Treasures of Chinese Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong   San Francisco, 1983, cat. no. 42. See also a dun and cover
                        PROVENANCE                                                                                                               Kong, 1990, cat. no. 183.                 formerly in the Madame L. Wannieck Collection and now in
                        Acquired in Hong Kong, 1996.              $ 40,000-60,000                                                                Art Treasures from Shanghai and Hong Kong, The University   the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C. (acc.
                                                                                                                                                 of Hong Kong Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. nos 7 and 8.  no. F1932.13a-b).
                        LITERATURE                                東周 戰國   青銅獸紋盉                                                                  The present pair of jian belong to a group of vessels
                        Richard A. Pegg and Zhang Lidong, The MacLean Collection:                                                                produced around the end of the Spring and Autumn period   $ 80,000-120,000
                        Chinese Ritual Bronzes, Chicago, 2010, pl. 48.  來源:                                                                      at Liyu, Shanxi province. The group first became known
                        The present he has a notably complex design involving   購於香港,1996年                                                       through a 1923 excavation from which twenty-eight vessels   東周 公元前六世紀末至五世紀初   青銅交
                        sculptural bird-form legs and spout, an openwork feline-form   出版:                                                       were published in Umehara Sueji, Sengoku-shiki doki no   龍紋鋪首耳鑒一對
                        handle, and three decorative bands each featuring different                                                              kenkyu [Research on Warring States bronzes], Kyoto, 1936.
                        animals. A very similar he, with slight variations to the details   彭銳查及張立東,《The MacLean Collection: Chinese             The characteristics of the ‘Liyu’ style were later closely   來源:
                        and including a monkey-form knop on the cover, in the   Ritual Bronzes》,芝加哥,2010年,圖版48                                   analyzed by George W. Weber in The Ornaments of Late   靜觀堂收藏
                        collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, was exhibited and                                                              Chou Bronzes: A Method of Analysis, New Brunswick, 1973,
                        published in Mirroring China’s Past: Emperors, Scholars, and                                                             pp 369-538, 557-562. In his typology of Liyu bronzes,   紐約佳士得1997年9月18日,編號120
                                                                                                                                                 Weber identified the interlocking dragon band found on the   展覽:
                                                                                                                                                 present jian as a defining characteristic of Group E vessels   《歷代文物萃珍:敏求精舍三十週年紀念展》,香港
                                                                                                                                                 with zoomorphic motifs, and noted that Group E vessels are
                                                                                                                                                 among the most typical of Liyu production around the first   藝術館,香港,1990年,編號183
                                                                                                                                                 quarter of the 5th century BC (ibid., pp 369-375). The band   《滬港藏珍》,香港大學美術館,香港,1996年,
                                                                                                                                                 can be recognized by its repeating units of two intertwined   編號7及8
                                                                                                                                                 serpentine dragons, one with the bifurcated tail forming the



























                58      SOTHEBY’S        COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10748                                                                                       IMPORTANT ARCHAIC BRONZES FROM THE MACLEAN COLLECTION  59
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