Page 190 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

257 A RARE BRONZE PEACOCK-FORM VESSEL

HAN DYNASTY
漢 銅孔雀形器
solidly cast in the form of the bird standing with its wings folded and its tail trailing out, its face detailed with bulging eyes and
a pointed beak beneath a crest, its slender legs terminating in large talons, the wings and tail incised with feather markings,
with a raised circular aperture on the back, wood stand (2)
Length 5 in., 12.8 cm

$ 30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

The present vessel modeled in the form of a peacock is extremely rare, and no other examples of the same type
appear to be published. Its stocky form is consistent with the bronze birds of Han dynasty, such as a gilt-bronze
phoenix of a slightly larger size, also from the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III, sold in these rooms, 19th March
2019, lot 122; and a bronze phoenix-form censer, excavated in Jiaozuo, Henan province, exhibited in Splendeurs des
Han: Essor de l’empire céleste, Museé Guimet, Paris, 2014, cat. no. 126.

The small tube on the back of the present lot links it to a group of vessels of various forms sharing this same feature,
the function of which is still debated. See a related bronze figure of a ram, modeled recumbent with a short tube on
the back, catalogued as a water dropper, exhibited in Kandai no bijutsu [Arts of the Han dynasty], Municipal Museum
of Fine Art, Osaka, 1975, cat. no. 2-68; an inlaid bronze mythical beast with a tube on the back, fitted with a cover,
identified as a water dropper, attributed to the Han dynasty, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 25th November 1987, lot
449; and another bronze example, identified as a water container, sold at Parke-Bernet New York, 1967, lot 167.

A related bronze vessel, modeled in the form of a bixie, set to the back with a tube and a cover, as well as an additional
tube behind the right foreleg, attributed to the Eastern Han to Six Dynasties, was exhibited in Animals and Animal
Designs in Chinese Art, Eskenazi, New York, 1998, cat. no. 13, where it is suggested that it could possibly be both an
incense burner and oil lamp, and later sold at Christie’s New York, 22nd-23rd March 2018, lot 921; another bronze
vessel of a slightly later period, cast in the form of a figure mounting a mythical beast, in which the figure’s head is
pierced with an aperture, fitted with a cover, attributed to the Three Kingdoms period, was excavated in Hefei, Anhui
province, and is now in the Anhui Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan qingtongjuan
[Compendium of Chinese art. Bronzes], Taipei, 1993, no. 1233, where it is identified as a lamp.

此器呈孔雀形，極為珍罕，目前尚未見有相似例出版。其 比一銅辟邪例，背部配管及蓋，右前腿也有一管，斷代
敦厚造型可見相類漢代鳥形器例，如史蒂芬•瓊肯三世舊 東漢至六朝，展於《Animals and animal designs in
藏一銅鎏金孔雀例，售於紐約蘇富比2019年3月19日，編 Chinese Art》，埃斯卡納齊，紐約，1998年，編號13
號122。另有一銅孔雀形香爐，於河南省焦作市出土，於 ，據其推測此器為香爐或油燈，後售於紐約佳士得2018
《Splendeurs des Han: Essor de l’empire céleste》 年3月22至23日，編號921。再有一燈例，斷代三國，燈
展出，吉美博物館，巴黎，2014年，編號126。 體為人騎獸，一人騎於獸背，右手持一圓燈管，頂心置高
冠燈管，1964年安徽合肥出土，現藏安徽省博物館，錄
本品孔雀背部見一小管，內部中空，其具體用途目前尚 於《中國文物精華大全•青銅卷》，台北，1993年，編
未有定論。見一銅臥羊器，背部有相同圓管，錄《漢代 號1233。
の美術》，大阪市立美術館，1975年，編號2-68，展覽
目錄定其為水滴。再比一銅瑞獸，背部小管且配蓋，同
樣為定水滴，斷代為漢，售於香港蘇富比1987年11月25
日，編號449。另見一例，定為水器，售於紐約Parket-
Bernet，1967年12月14日，編號167。

188 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II