Page 59 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

Heralding a New Era
A Rare and Important Pair

of Western Zhou Gui Vessels

循古思變 : 西周方座簋一對

Robert D. Mowry
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and
Senior Consultant, Christie’s
毛瑞

xceptionally rare, this pair of bronze lidded gui food-serving vessels is art-historically important for its reliance solely on vertical ribs as
E decoration, thereby introducing a new mode of embellishment; the ribbed décor, combined with the elevation of the vessel bowl on a
tall, square base, signals the fnal break with the stylistic legacy of the previous Shang dynasty and the establishment of a distinctive Zhou-
dynasty mode. As such, the pair joins a small group of other socled gui vessels with rib décor produced in the Middle Western Zhou period
(c. 975–c. 875 BC), in the late tenth or early ninth century BC. That these majestic vessels not only have survived for nearly three thousand
years but have remained together as a pair signals their extraordinary importance and elevates them to the status of revered treasures.
Apart from their art-historical importance, these gui vessels also have a very distinguished provenance, having passed through the hands of
esteemed art dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, and then through the acclaimed collection of Bella and P.P. Chiu (of Hong Kong and San
Francisco).

In essence, large ceremonial vessels for serving cooked millet, sorghum, rice, or other grains, these virtually identical bronze gui vessels
comprise a circular bowl set on a tall, square socle, or base. With its S-curved profle, the bowl, or container portion of the vessel, has a
lightly faring lip that thickens at its outer edge, a constricted vertical neck, and a deep compressed globular bowl set on a splayed, circular
footring enhanced by a single, molded bowstring line. Integrally cast with the bowl, the hollow, square socle elevates and supports the
bowl. Two opposed, squared, loop handles spring laterally from the bowl’s neck and then immediately curve upward to rise vertically,
reaching nearly to the top of the cover. Each lightly domed cover has a wide, circular handle with thickened lip, the handle’s form sometimes
characterized as a band-collar or clerical-collar; the handle’s well-articulated, horizontal lip echoes the undecorated horizontal bands
that border the vessel’s decorative registers, separating one register from the next. An all-over pattern of vertical ribs enlivens the bowls,
covers, and socles. The ribs on the bowls appear in two registers, with a taller register on the bulging belly and a shorter register on the
constricted neck; a single, broad band of ribs encircles the cover, and a single, wide register embellishes each face of the square socles. The
plain bands that border each area of ribs impose a well-defned order on the decorative scheme and, through visual and textural contrast,
invigorate the design. A pair of vertically set, hollow, tubular appendages, each divided into three sections, enlivens the neck of each bowl,
each opposed appendage appearing a quarter rotation from the handles. Eight small, square openings appear on each face of the socle;
set within a rectangular panel at the center of the lower half of the wall, the openings are arranged in two horizontal rows of four openings
each, one row atop the other. The rectangular panels intended to receive the perforations were left unembellished during casting and thus
lack vertical ribs.
Bronze casting came fully into its own in China during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC) with the production of sacral vessels
intended for use in funerary ceremonies. Those vessels include ones for food and wine as well as ones for water; those for food and wine,
the types most frequently encountered, group themselves into storage and presentation vessels as well as heating, cooking, and serving
vessels. A sacral vessel for serving oferings of cooked food, the gui frst appeared during the Shang dynasty and continued well into the
Zhou (c. 1046 BC–256 BC).

這對連蓋方座青銅簋 (古代食器) 珍罕之至，二者僅飾直棱紋，裝飾手法 盌狀，正中設寬碩的圓形捉手，口沿渾厚，狀若洗口，其直壁寬口的樣
別開生面，在藝術史上可謂意義重大；本拍品所飾的直棱紋，以及鼓腹 式棱角分明，與器身多道紋飾之間的光素區隔上下呼應。簋身、蓋和方
下用高方座增加器物高度的做法，一反此前殷商的匠作則例，並開創了 座俱飾直棱紋，為其造型平添變化：就簋身的兩條紋飾帶，鼓腹所見較
獨樹一幟的周代風格。由此看來，這對青銅簋應出自公元前十世紀晚期 寬，束頸處較窄；蓋面環飾一圈舒展開濶的直棱紋；至於方座的四個立
或九世紀初期，屬於一小批西周中期 (約公元前975至875年) 製作的連座 面，亦各飾一道寬廣的直棱紋。每組直棱四周皆光素無紋，整體佈局章
直棱紋青銅簋。這對作品端凝大氣，它們見證了上下約三千年的興亡更 法齊整，僅利用視覺和題材的繁文素質，使整體構圖更錯落有致。器頸
迭，迄今仍能以配對之姿出現，份量之重自不待言，是當之無愧的圭臬 前後各置一個三段式筒形貫耳，恰好位於左右雙耳之間，使器頸的設計
之作。本拍品除了極具藝術史價值，經手藏家亦聲名赫赫，如古董界泰 更為生動。方座四面各八個方形小孔；八孔呈雙排格欄狀，每排四孔，
斗倫敦埃斯卡納齊 (Giuseppe Eskenazi)，以及享負盛名的趙氏山海樓舊藏 位於立面下半部正中的長方開光內。為開孔之故，長方開光渾無鑄飾，
(香港及三藩市) 等。 亦無直棱紋。
這對青銅簋的外觀如出一轍，兩者均由盌狀器體與高方座組成，當初應 早於商代 (公元前1600年至1046年)，中國的青銅鑄造業已成氣候，許多
是盛放煮熟的黍、梁、稻、稷等穀物的大型禮器。簋的鼓腹為容器，側 喪葬儀式用的彝器亦應運而生。除水器之外，這些作品以食器與酒器最
面呈S曲線，口微撇，外沿增厚，直頸內歛，深鼓腹，圈足外侈，足墻 為常見，其下尚可細分為貯存、盛放、加熱、炊煮、飲食之器。簋屬於
僅飾連鑄弦紋一道。鼓腹下設連鑄中空方座，以增高和承托器體。頸側 盛放熟食類供品的彝器，首見於商代，周代 (約公元前1046至256年) 仍
飾對稱的方形環耳，先橫生再折而向上，上沿幾與蓋頂等高。蓋作覆 製作不斷。