Page 104 - Christie's London May 14, 2019 Chinese Works of Art

A Turquoise-glazed Archaistic Boar-shaped Zun
Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant Asian Art

This boar-shaped zun vessel is a charming refection of a predilection for
archaism in Chinese ceramics, which can be traced back to the Northern
Song dynasty. The Northern Song Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1126) was a
keen collector of antiques and published an illustrated catalogue of bronzes
in his collection under the title Xuanhe bogutu. Compiled between 1107
and 1123, this 30-volume (juan) catalogue provided details of some 839
objects in the Xuanhe Hall dating from the period Shang to Tang dynasty.
It is especially notable that the infuence of ancient bronzes, such as those
published in the Xuanhe bogutu, can be seen in the shapes of Song dynasty
ceramics – particularly Ru wares, the Northern Song ceramics most closely
associated with Emperor Huizong. This infuence is clearly seen on ceramic
Ru ware lian censers of cylindrical form standing on three cabriole legs,
which are invariably made with the same encircling triple bow-string lines
which appear on the bronze vessels of similar form from the Han dynasty.
While archaism, often manifested in imitation of Song dynasty stoneware
glazes, continued to be a source of inspiration in Ming ceramics - especially
those made for the court – it was in the reign the Qing the dynasty Kangxi
note that one of the ancient bronze zun illustrated is quite similar to the
Emperor (r. 1662-1722) that inspiration from ancient bronzes was once again
current boar, although the illustrated bronze animal has inlaid gold and silver
a signifcant factor in ceramic design. The Kangxi Emperor was a great
decoration. This image appears in the reprint of the Xiqing gujian , Qinding
collector of antiques and derived great pleasure and even physical wellbeing
siku quanshu , shang juan, Shanghai shudian chubanshe, on page 193. The
from his collection. As the emperor himself put it:
vessel is described as Zhou xi zun – a Zhou dynasty sacrifcial animal zun.
‘I used to say to my sons: Seek joyfulness when you can, for seeking joy leads
The current turquoise-glazed ceramic boar zun, however, appears to
to an auspicious atmosphere. After meals we would talk about pleasant
have been very closely modelled on a Shang dynasty bronze boar – cast
things and set our eyes on rare antiques, so we digested easily and out
with complex surface decoration, but without inlay – of the very rare type
bodies fourished.’ (translated by Jonathan Spence in Emperor of China –
excavated at Chuanxingshan, Xiangtan, Hunan province, in 1981 and now
Self-portrait of Kang-hsi, Harmondsworth and New York, 1974)
in the collection of the Hunan Provincial Museum at Changsha (Fig.1). Like
A variety of ancient bronze shapes as well as their surface decoration can be the current ceramic vessel, the Shang dynasty bronze vessel has an oval
seen amongst Kangxi ceramics, especially those with monochrome glazes. lid topped by a phoenix-shaped fnial. The museum texts point out that the
bronze animal has sharp tusks and is less a domesticated pig than a wild
Interestingly, it was also in the Kangxi reign that brilliant turquoise glazes boar. However, oracle bone inscriptions found at the Shang capital state
rose to prominence. Despite their widespread use in the Near East, turquoise that pigs were raised by every household and were sacrifced by major
glazes, coloured with copper oxide, had not found great favour in China households at that time. The protruding tusks have been omitted from the
prior to the 17th century. The glaze had been used at the tile-making kilns current ceramic vessel, no doubt because they would have been extremely
of northern China and occasionally on stonewares from the Cizhou kilns, prone to damage. The Zhou dynasty inlaid bronze animal illustrated in the
but although a few turquoise-glazed porcelains were made in the Yuan and Xiqing gujian is also without tusks.
Ming dynasties, they were a very small percentage of porcelain production. It
would seem that the Qing dynasty Kangxi potters at Jingdezhen were able to The original Shang dynasty bronze vessel is large – 40 cm high and 72 cm
develop a turquoise glaze of greater depth and brilliance than had previously long – and would have been flled with wine when in ritual use, although the
been achieved. This new turquoise glaze proved more generally popular, museum text points out the dificulty of moving such a heavy vessel when
and was particularly efective when applied over bronze-style decoration. it was full of wine. Indeed, the Shang bronze zun appears to have holes
An example of this is tall Kangxi vase of zun form in the collection of the specifcally to allow ropes to be attached for moving it. The ceramic vessel is
Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete a rather more manageable size at 19 cm high and 26 cm long, although even
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 37, Hong Kong, 1999, p. this zun would have
164, no. 148), on which the incised designs of upright blades on the neck been heavy if flled with
and taotie on the central section are emphasised by the pooling of the clear liquid. The turquoise
turquoise glaze. glaze on the current
ceramic vessel is not
Following the lead of the Northern Song Emperor Huizong, the Qing dynasty only an attractive colour,
Qianlong Emperor also provided future art historians with an invaluable but also efectively
resource in the form of the illustrated catalogues of the imperial collections, highlights the incised
including the Xiqing gujian (Xiqing Mirror of Antiquities). The latter was decoration, which
a catalogue, in 40 volumes, of some 1529 ritual bronzes in the imperial imitates quite closely
collection, and was compiled between 1749 and 1755. Although the detailed the cast decoration
entries for each of the vessels do not include the date on which the pieces on the Shang Bronze
entered the Qing imperial collection, it is nevertheless interesting to see prototype.
Fig. 1

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