Page 34 - Sotheby's Arcadian beauty Song Pottery Oct. 3, 2018

3104

AN EXTREMELY RARE 南宋 鐵犢 連
IRON FIGURE OF AN 阮亨銘座及富岡鉄斎

OX; WOOD STAND 《鐵牛古像の記事稿》卷
INSCRIBED BY RUAN 畫卷題識：
八十又六鐵齋老人百鍊
HENG (1783-1859) 鈐印：富岡百鍊字無倦之章（倒置）
AND A CALLIGRAPHIC 來源：
阮亨（1783-1859年）收藏
SCROLL BY TOMIOKA 鳩居堂，京都（1916年信札）
TESSAI (1837-1924) 富岡鉄斎（1837-1924年）收藏

DATED TO 1921

SOUTHERN SONG
DYNASTY

cast in the form of a calf sturdily standing
foursquare, portrayed with the head slightly
raised and a pronounced snout marked with a
gently upturned mouth, all below a pair of curved
horns issuing from the forehead, the attractively
pitted patina of the beast contrasting with the
rounded contours of the well-proportioned
muscular body, the wood stand with a shaped
outline and resting on four short hemispherical
feet, the flat surface of the stand with three
cavities to house three of the ox’s legs and a
protruding rounded fitting to support the shorter
front right leg with the broken hoof, the curved
sides inscribed by Ruan Heng and succinctly
expressing the Ruan family’s high esteem of the
rare figure and the state of its missing front hoof;
the handscroll dated to 1921 with a painterly
sketch in ink of the iron figure, followed by a long
colophon titled Record of the Ancient Iron Ox
expressing the calligrapher’s adoration of the
figure since seeing it for the first time in the late
1860s, signed by Tomioka Tessai “at the age of
86” (suggesting that the scroll can be dated to
1921)
ox 17.1 cm, 6¾ in.
scroll 215 cm, 84⅝ in.

PROVENANCE
Collection of Ruan Heng (1783-1859).
Kyukyodo, Kyoto (letter dated to 1916).
Collection of Tomioka Tessai (1837-1924).

HK$ 1,000,000-1,500,000
US$ 128,000-192,000

32 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比