Page 135 - important chinese art mar 22 2018

Fig. 1 An archaic bronze you, Shang dynasty, Yinxu period Fig. 2 An archaic bronze you, late Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century
Collection of Nara National Museum. Photograph provided by the BC, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Adolph D. and Wilkins
Nara National Museum. C. Williams Fund
ྡɓ ਠ ँᄢࣛಂ ڡზᛧᕡ७ᠻ Photo: Travis Fullerton © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
քԄ਷ͭ௹ي᎜ϗᔛ ྡɚ ਠૉಂ ௢७ڡზᠻ ̿Λ̵ԭᖵஔ௹ي᎜ ༁ɻ㺉 Adolph D. ʿ
ྡ˪͟քԄ਷ͭ௹ي᎜౤Զ Wilkins C. Williams ਿږ
ྡ˪jTravis Fullerton © ̿Λ̵ԭᖵஔ௹ي᎜

Takayasu & Hayashi Minao, Fugendō Sakamoto Gorō Chūgoku and cover of our you, with open jaws and with down-pointing
seidōki seishō/Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Sakamoto snouts, can already be seen on bronzes from the tomb of
Collection, Tokyo, 2002, pl. 73 ( g. 1): it is similar in shape, Fu Hao, see Yinxu Fu Hao mu/Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in
has similar " anges and similar overall linear decoration, but a Anyang, Beijing, 1980, passim, both executed in this distinc-
band of triangles around the cover and its handle is formed like tive " at linear style and with design elements raised in relief an
twisted rope. unusual technique in common with our you. A you of more slen-
der form but closely related design and structure excavated
Another related you, which is lacking its handle, is in the
from tomb 1022 at Xibeigang, Anyang, and now in the collec-
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, illustrated in Haiwai yizhen:
tion of the Insitute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
Tongqi, xu/Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Bronze [sic] II, and dated to the ! rst half of the Yinxu period is illustrated in
Taipei, 1988, p. 52 ( g. 2): it also shows similar proportions and
King Wu Ding and Lady Hao, Art and Culture of the Late Shang
similarly shaped " anges with a central hook, and is very simi-
Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2013, pl.III-4. A ding
larly decorated but in slight relief, again with triangles replacing
tripod vessel with similar taotie and dragon designs in linear
the animal design around the cover. This you is also illustrated relief is illustrated in Christian Deydier, Les Bronzes Archaiques
in Bagley, p. 398, ! g. 70.1, as comparison to the sparsely deco-
Chinois, op.cit., p. 85, and another similar taotie mask can be
rated variant, which he suggests must derive from this “fully
seen on a 12th century lei from the Sackler collection, Bagley,
decorated parent type”.
op.cit., pl. 8.
Two further you may be mentioned as comparisons, with simi-
The distinguished provenance of the present you can be
lar overall decoration in low relief on a plain ground, without
traced back into the ! rst half of the last century. Huang Jun
leiwen background, one with rope-twist handle, from Shandong,
(1880-1952) was a Beijing art dealer, who in the 1930s and ‘40s
illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from published several bronze catalogues.
the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 505,
! g. 70.3, but attributed to the Shang dynasty; the other from Dr. Anton F. Philips (1874-1951) was co-founder of the Philips
the collection Earl Morse, almost identical to the last, but hav- Group of companies that started in Eindhoven in The Nether-
ing lost its handle, sold in our London rooms, 14th November lands as a light bulb factory. An observatory in his home town,
1972, lot 227. which he donated, is still named after him, the Dr. A.F. Philips
Sterrenwacht. The important collection of archaic Chinese
The large-scale taotie design on the present bronze displays
bronzes and other works of art that he had assembled, was sold
the fully developed style of this motif, with C-shaped horns,
in our London rooms in 1978.
pointed ears, and inward curved fangs. It extends into a body
on either side of the central " ange, so that it can be interpreted Tai Jun Tse (J.T. Tai, 1910-1992) was one of the major Chinese art
either as a single mask facing the viewer or as two kui dragons dealers of the 20th century, who started working at his uncle’s
in pro! le, facing each other. Vadime Elissee$ , who discusses antiques shop in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, from around the late
the development of this design in ‘A Lei in the Musée Cernuschi 1920s, opened his own shop in Shanghai in the 1930s and moved
Collection’, Orientations, August 1992, p. 48, illustrates a very to New York in 1950 to open a gallery there. For decades he
similar taotie motif, but with outward bent fangs. Related taotie remained one of the major suppliers of Americas great collectors,
masks as well as similar dragon motifs as seen on the shoulder among them Avery Brundage and Arthur M. Sackler.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 133