Page 64 - Sotheby's Important Chinese Art, Sept. 21-22, 2-21, NYC

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A MASSIVE ARCHAIC BRONZE WATER BASIN comparable jian, the present example is most similar to the
(JIAN) one commissioned by King Helu, in that they both have the
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE SPRING AND comma-patterned relief at the rim, have volutes at the lower
ends of the handles, and have similarly shaped beast masks
AUTUMN PERIOD, CIRCA 500 BC at the handles with openwork antlers. This strongly suggests
the deep sides rising to a slightly recessed neck beneath the that the present jian was also produced at or around the time
everted rim, with four substantial D-shaped handles attached of King Helu’s reign.
at the widest point of the body each ornamented with a For massive Spring and Autumn period bronze jian sold
sculptural beast mask sporting openwork antlers, below the at auction, but with differences in the handles and the
handles a wide band suspending large pendent lappets all decorative bands, see a pair sold at Christie’s London, 13th
patterned with a dense network of comma-form curls, the November 2001, lot 48; a pair sold in our London rooms,
commas with finely striated surfaces and emerging in high 14th November 2000, lot 10; and a single jian sold in these
relief at either end, the same pattern repeated in the bands rooms, 21st September 2005, lot 158.
encircling the shoulder, neck, and rim, the patina mottled in
green, reddish-beige, and gray oxidation $ 80,000-120,000
Width across handles 29¼ in., 74.3 cm
東周 春秋末 約公元前500年 青銅變形龍紋
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s New York, 22nd March 2000, lot 65. 獸首耳鑒
The dense network of comma-shaped curls in undulating 來源：
relief is characteristic of the ‘Huai’ decorative style around 紐約蘇富比2000年3月22日，編號65
the turn of the early 5th century BC. This style is named for
the region around the ancient Wu State (modern Jiangsu
and eastern Anhui provinces) along the eastern reaches of
the Huai River, where it was produced. The style developed
from 6th century and contemporaneous zoomorphic motifs
prevalent in bronze, lacquer, and carved wood designs in
the neighboring Chu State, in which the creatures’ bodies
are comprised of curls, volutes, and comma-like elements.
In its mature expression, Chu curvilinear elements became
so richly executed that they that they nearly obscured the
anatomy of the discrete animals, and dissolved patterns
of interwoven creatures into fields of swirling textures. A
prime example of this Chu mode of ornamentation is found
a bronze bell known as the ‘Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong’,
dated by inscription to 550 BC, and now in the collection of
the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (obj. no. B60S552).
By circa 500 BC, artisans in the Wu State had taken the
abstraction a level further by subordinating the zoomorphic
impulse and reducing the decorative unit to curls or commas
alone, so that that the motif became entirely non-figural.
This highly abstract curling comma pattern fills the bands
and lappets on the present jian and also decorates three
nearly identical jian each bearing inscriptions citing Wu kings
who ruled at the end of the Spring and Autumn period. The
earliest of the group, known as the ‘Wu Wang Guang jian’,
was commissioned by King Helu of Wu (formerly known as
Prince Guang of Wu, r. 514-496) as part of the dowry for his
daughter Shuji’s marriage to Marquis Zhaohou of Cai (also
known as Marquis Houshen of Cai, r. 519-491 BC), and is now
in the collection of the Anhui Provincial Museum, Hefei. The
other two jian both bear the names of King Helu’s son and
successor, King Fuchai of Wu (r. 495-473 BC): one is in the
collection of the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, and published
in Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi yanjiu: Dong Zhou
pian, Shang [Study of Bronzes of the Xia, Shang and Zhou
Dynasties: Eastern Zhou, vol. 1], Shanghai, 2004, no. 507;
the other was formerly in the collection of Herr Hans Georg
Oeder, and later in the Staatliche Museum, Ostasiatische
Abteilung, Berlin, and now believed to be in the State
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, published in George W.
Weber, The Ornaments of Late Chou Bronzes: A Method of
Analysis, New Brunswick, 1973, p. 45, pl. 5. Of these three

60 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10748 IMPORTANT ARCHAIC BRONZES FROM THE MACLEAN COLLECTION 61