Page 150 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

his flamboyant flask, which appears to be unique, is a work of historical importance. It is an
exceptional artifact in a previously unrecorded combination of materials, and documents
Tthe expertise and courage to experiment of late Warring States craftsmen. The decorative
appeal of this vessel and related contemporary bronzes suggest that metal vessels were transformed
from objects of ritual importance to items of pure luxury. This vessel highlights the artisans’ search
for new ways to appeal to the tastes of the elites at the various contending courts of the time, whose
interest in luxury items was gradually moving away from bronze towards more colorful objects made of
painted lacquer. While the design of the present vessel is representative of the period, it is unique in its
employment of new materials and inventive ways of adding color to its surface.

The use of iron as material for a vessel is highly unusual in itself and very few iron vessels of this early
period appear to be preserved. Unlike most civilizations, China is considered hardly to have had an
Iron Age as such (i.e. an age where tools and weapons were predominantly made of iron), although
particularly from the Warring States to the early Western Han period (roughly 500 – 100 BC), iron was
much in use for weapons and armor, tools and other small implements – but also alongside bronze. It
was a material of prestige and is found particularly in the context of persons of high rank. Some of the
most luxurious weapons of the period are swords discovered in Baoji, Shaanxi province, with iron blades
and intricate openwork cast gold hilts inlaid with turquoise. Iron vessels, however, particularly with inlaid
decoration, appear to be virtually non-existent.

In Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 11: Ferrous
Metallurgy, Cambridge, 2008, Donald B. Wagner highlights particularly the States of Qin, Chu and
Wu as important states of iron metallurgy, but in this context illustrates only two vessels, a plain ding
made of bronze, but with iron legs, p. 123, fig. 55, and a plain iron fu, p.125, fig. 58: 2. The present piece
is remarkable for its elaborate design, which combines different media in a highly ornate and eccentric
manner. Turquoise, gilt silver, silver, gilt bronze and bone are inlaid to form a complex geometric pattern,
signalling unequivocally its owner’s wealth and high social status.

It is in this period that the decreasing power of the Zhou kings, together with innovative agricultural
technology, allowed feudal states to become wealthier and more powerful. Sophisticated and luxuriously
inlaid bronzes were recovered from tombs in Jincun, the site of the Eastern Capital at Luoyang, as well
as from burial sites unrelated to the Zhou kings, including the tombs of the Wei ruling nobles in Huixian,
Henan, the tombs of the Zhongshan kings at Pingcheng, Henan province, and tombs of the Chu state
in Hubei province. A bronze hu reportedly from Jincun, lavishly inlaid with glass lozenges separated

本品扁壺華麗至極，用材新穎獨特，鑄造工藝匠心獨 的「鐵器時代」（即工具及武器主要為鐵製品的時
具，應為目前存世孤例，具有重要的歷史價值。本品 代）相對較難界定。儘管從戰國時期至西漢初期鐵已
以多種材料製成，誠為戰國後期工匠高超技藝及大膽 廣泛使用於武器鎧甲、工具及其他小型器具，但多仍
探索精神的傳世記載。此器華美絢麗的裝飾外觀及呈 與青銅搭配使用。但在當時，鐵是象徵顯貴的材質，
現出的相關製作工藝，揭示了當時的金屬器經歷了從 尤為上層社會所使用。可參考陝西寶雞出土的劍例，
重要禮器向純粹奢華用物轉變的過程。時各爭雄王室 劍身為鐵鑄，配鏤空金製劍柄，並嵌綠松石，極顯奢
對於奢華物品的興趣正悄然發生轉變，從金屬器逐漸 華。然而，對於鐵製器皿而言，特別是同時配有大量
轉為色彩更為豐富靚麗的漆器，而本壺即代表了當時 嵌飾如本品者，則幾不可見，尤為珍罕異常。
工匠們竭盡探索創新，以為迎合當時上層權貴的審美
品味。 華道安（《中國科學技術史》，卷5：化學及相關技
術，冊11：鋼鐵冶金，劍橋，2008年）曾有論述，
本壺為鐵質，鐵作為製器原材尤為罕見，同時期鐵質 秦國、楚國和吳國應為當時重要的冶鐵國，并以兩件
器皿更鮮有留存至今者。有別於其他多數文明，中國 作例為參考，一例青銅鼎，足為鐵製，頁123，圖55 ；

148 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II