Page 153 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

Fig. 1 A bronze fanghu from the collection
of Adolphe Stoclet illustrated in the
International Exhibition of Chinese Art,
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat.
no. 406
圖一 銅方壺 Stoclet 收藏，錄於展覽圖錄
《中國藝術國際展覽會》，皇家藝術研究
院，倫敦， 1935年，編號406

Washington D.C., 1995, fig. 112; another in the Arthur B. Michael collection, later in the collection of Eric
Lidow, and now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, included in An Exhibition of Chinese Ritual
Bronzes Loaned by C.T. Loo & Co., New York, 1939, cat. no. 29, and its pair, also from the Arthur B. Michael
collection, later in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, included in the exhibition Ritual
Vessels of Bronze Age China, The Asia Society, New York, 1968, cat. no. 69, and later sold in our New York
rooms, 20th March 2007, lot 508.

It is also in this period that the present form, with a flattened ovoid body and a square foot, gained
popularity in various media, and some bronze bianhu are also inlaid with precious metals; see, for
example, a flask in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institutions, Washington D.C., with a geometric
pattern of diagonal angular scrollwork inlaid in silver, illustrated in The Freer Chinese Bronzes,
Washington, 1967, vol. 1, pl. 95. The present vessel, however, appears to be unique not only in its use of
iron as the basic material, but also its combination of silver, gilt bronze and bone for its inlays. It testifies
to a period when craftsmen were not only highly skilled, but also dared to move into new directions,
perhaps under the patronage of some regional court.

另可參考三例方壺，裝飾風格相類，飾斜向排列的 此類扁壺形制於戰漢時期頗為流行，可見於不同材
菱形方格及乳釘紋：其一藏舊金山亞洲藝術博物 質，亦有作錯飾者，如華盛頓史密森博物學院弗瑞爾
館，載Jenny So，《Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes 美術館收藏的一件扁壺例，壺身錯銀飾幾何紋，載
from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，華盛 《The Freer Chinese Bronzes》，華盛頓，1967
頓，1995年，圖112；其二為Arthur B. Michael 年，卷1，圖版95。而本品扁壺誠風格獨具，不僅在
舊藏，後為Eric Lidow所藏，現為洛杉磯郡藝 於其以鐵為材質，更見於其巧妙融合了銀、銅鎏金及
術博物館館藏，錄《An Exhibition of Chinese 骨作嵌飾。本壺代表了當時的工匠不僅具備高超的技
Ritual Bronzes Loaned by C.T. Loo & Co.》 藝，亦敢於大膽嘗試全新製作工藝，其原因或與一些
，紐約，1939年，編號29；其三亦為 Arthur B. 地方割據王室貴族之喜好有關，亦未可知。
Michael 舊藏，隨後為水牛城歐布萊-諾克斯美術館
所藏，載《Ritual Vessels of Bronze Age China》
，亞洲協會，紐約，1968年，編號69，後售於紐約
蘇富比2007年3月20日，編號 508。

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