Page 163 - Sotheby's NYC September 21 2022 Important Chinese Art

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AN ARCHAISTIC GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID A number of Eastern Zhou vessels of similar design are
BRONZE HU-FORM VASE preserved in important museum collections worldwide,
SONG DYNASTY including one reportedly found at Luoyang, now in the
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (accession no. 933.12.66),
Height 12 in., 30.4cm illustrated in Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the
Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, fig. 44.1; one
PROVENANCE in the National Gallery of Asian Art, Washington. D.C., given
Canadian Private Collection. by Arthur Sackler, illustrated in ibid., pl. 44; and another from
Christie’s New York, 13th September 2018, lot 1260. the Winthrop Collection, now in the Harvard Art Museums,
Cambridge (accession no 1943.52.121.A-B.), illustrated in
Arranged across ten horizontal registers, the design of the Chen Mengjia, Yin Zhou qingtongqi fenlei tulu [A corpus of
present hu is composed of pairs of symmetrically arranged Chinese bronzes in American Collections], Tokyo, 1977, pl.
dragons, each rendered in a curvilinear style with the A725. Line drawings of other vessels in this group in the
arched bodies raised on all four limbs, inlaid in silver and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute
gold. In both its form and inlaid design, the present vessel is of Chicago, Chicago, Fujii Yurinkan, Kyoto and the Avery
based on an Eastern Zhou dynasty ritual bronze prototype, Brundage Collection at the Asian Museum, San Francisco, are
specifically a small group of vessels with geometrically illustrated in Weber, op. cit., figs 36-37 a-c. Similar copper-
arranged designs of pairs of birds, felines and deer, inlaid with inlaid designs are also found on Eastern Zhou bronzes of
copper. The group was studied in detail by Charles B. Weber other forms, such as a dou and cover excavated at Henan,
and discussed in Chinese Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Gushi Hougudui M1, illustrated in So, op. cit., p. 37.
Late Chou Period, Ascona, 1968, where the author suggests
that this type of decoration originated from Huixian, Henan Whilst Song dynasty interpretations of this type are rare,
province from the 6th into the early 5th century BC. compare also a silver and gold-inlaid hu in the British
Museum, illustrated in Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt and Jean-
The vessel belongs firmly in the Song dynasty (960-1279) Claude Moreau-Gobard, Chinese Art: Bronze, Jade, Sculpture,
tradition of antiquarianism, and reflects the fashion at the Ceramics, New York, 1980, pl. 56, and another, also attributed
time for faithfully reproducing archaic bronze ritual vessels to the Song dynasty after a Warring States prototype, sold at
from the earlier Shang and Zhou dynasties. During the Song Christie’s New York, 18th September 2014, lot 1016.
dynasty, China experienced an explosion of interest in the
past and the period stands out for its fascination with the ⊖ $ 150,000-180,000
material remnants of antiquity. Ancient objects were eagerly
collected and studied by collectors as well as the imperial
court. A large body of texts and catalogues devoted to 宋 銅錯金銀龍紋壺
documenting and interpreting artifacts from the past were
produced and disseminated; and the quest for antiquity 來源
generated a wide range of cultural production during the
latter part of the Song dynasty. 加拿大私人收藏
紐約佳士得2018年9月13日，編號1260

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