Page 44 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver
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MASTERPIECES OF EARLY CHINESE GOLD AND SILVER  |  金紫銀青 - 中國早期金銀器粹珍



                           decorative motif on the famous pair of bronze hu storage jars from Houma now in the collection
                           of the British Museum, London, and known from their inscriptions as the Zhao Meng Jie Hu
                           (1972,0229.1 a-b),  just as such patterns also occur on the ffth-century BC hu jar and jian basin
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                           in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (F57.22 and F39.5, respectively).  In addition, the
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                           celebrated bird-form zun wine vessel in the Freer Gallery of Art (F1961.30a-b)  not only sports an
                           interlace on its breast but boasts a cover in the form of a bird’s head with a long, hooked beak, all
                           of which underscore exchanges between the northwest and areas more centrally located in China.
                           This chape was cast, perhaps in two parts that subsequently were joined together. The detailing
                           of the snakes’ faces and the intaglio lines that describe their spines were engraved after casting,
                           just as the gold was polished and the turquoise beads inset as post-casting, fnishing details. In
                           evaluating early gold objects, a particular item’s technique of manufacture can be considered
                           an indicator of that item’s relative value at the time of manufacture. Even after the hammering
                           technique for gold was developed, casting was reserved for more prestigious gold objects, as they
                           required more gold and thus were heavier and more substantial than hammered objects.


                           捕蟬，黃雀在後」的由來，闡釋了天地萬物相生相             有一例著名的鳥形尊 (館藏號F1961.30a-b)，  其
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                           剋之理。                               鳥兒胸前亦飾此類紋飾，尊蓋形似鳥首，其長喙如
                           山西侯馬青銅鑄造遺址聞名遐邇，公元前五世紀該             鈎，再次引證了中國西北部與中部地區之間的相互
                           處生產的青銅器之主題和風格特徵，俱與公元前六             影響。
                           至五世紀中原西北地區的作品密切相關，例如兩者             本拍品採用澆鑄工藝，也許是由兩部份拼合而成。
                           均採用錯綜複雜的重疊交錯紋飾，以及具鈎形長喙             虺面的細部與虺脊的陰線均屬鑄後加刻的細節，而
                           的鳥紋。(公元前585至376年，雄霸中原的晉國以          黃金拋光和鑲嵌綠松石珠同樣是鑄後加工。在評鑑
                           新田為都，今稱侯馬)。侯馬曾出土一對青銅壺名             早期金器時，個別作品的工藝水平，足以反映它在
                           作，其主要紋飾亦重疊交錯，兩者現為倫敦大英博             製造年代的價值高低。錘鍱工藝出現之後，一些貴
                           物館珍藏，並根據銘文定名為「趙孟庎壺」(館藏號            重金器仍是澆鑄而成，蓋因後者的黃金用量較高，
                           1972,0229.1 a-b)，  近似紋樣亦見於華盛頓特區    故此更厚重壓手，跟錘鍱之物相比，其份量自不可
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                           弗利爾美術館藏公元前五世紀青銅壺與鑑 (又名「            同日而語。
                           鑒」) (館藏號F57.22及F39.5)。  弗利爾美術館尚
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                                           Fig. 1 Gold dagger handle. Eastern Zhou dynasty. China.
                                           6th-5th Century
                                           © The Trustees of the British Museum
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