Page 115 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION

1394

A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL AND
COVER, HU
LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-5TH
CENTURY BC

The pear-shaped body is cast around the sides
with seven bands of intricate stylized dragon
pattern bordered by narrow indented bands
with raised edges. The neck is cast with four
loose rings above a pair of taotie mask handles
on the shoulder, which support a chain
handle that is also attached to the cover. The
cover is cast with a central whorl pattern and
surmounted by four small masks suspending
loose rings. The surface has light malachite and
cuprite encrustation.

13º in. (33.6 cm.) high, box

$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Hong Kong, 1992.
The Tsui Museum of Art.
Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1253.

EXHIBITED

The Empress Place Museum, Gems of Chinese
Art: Selections of Ceramics and Bronzes from the
Tsui Art Foundation, Singapore, 1992, no. 9.
Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Empire of the Dragons:
Chinese Art Treasures Through 4000 Years from
Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark, 9 September -
26 November 1995, no. 12.

A similar bronze hu and cover with chain-link
handle, but decorated with geometric patterns, is
illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes
from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur
M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, p. 251, fg. 42.1.
According to J. So ibid, p. 250, “hu vessels of this
type, typically set on a low ring foot patterned to
resemble twisted rope, with a lid attached to a long
chain handle, and four small movable rings at the
neck, have been recovered mostly from sites in
Henan.” Compare, also, a hu and cover of similar
form and decoration, but missing the link between
the cover and the chain handle, from the collection
of the Harvard University Art Museums, illustrated
ibid., p. 251, fg. 42.2.

春秋晚期 青銅蟠虺紋提鏈蓋壺

蘇芳淑著1995年出版《Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes
from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》251頁，圖
42.1載有一件相似的青銅提鏈蓋壺，唯紋飾與本壺有別.
蘇芳淑在前揭書250頁指出：“此類蓋與提鏈相連，頸
部有四個活環，圈足常常飾有繩紋的壺多出土於河南地
區。” 哈佛大學美術館亦藏有一件近似的壺，蓋與提鏈
之間的連環缺失，見前揭書251頁，圖42.2。

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