Page 302 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 Hong Kong

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A rare archaic bronze ‘gourd’ vase and cover, hu
Eastern Zhou dynasty
The bulbous flask-shaped body supported on a simulated rope-twist
foot, rising to a straight neck offset on one side of the shoulder,
intricately cast with three wide bands of dense interlocking abstract
motifs on the lower body and an additional band at the neck, cast
on one side with a convex bar handle decorated with keyfret scrolls,
attached by a loose interlinked chain to the tail of the cover, the cover
naturalistically cast as a feathery bird with wing feathers and sharp claws
delicately rendered, the sharp beak opening to form the aperture of
the vessel, with finial in the form of a bird, its beak forming the spout
fastened on hinge allowing opening movements, the feathery avian
creature grasping two serpents in its claws and body covered in further
elaborate archaistic scrolls.
29.5cm high. (2).
HK$60,000 - 80,000
US$7,700 - 10,000

Gourd-shaped vessels resembling the current lot have been unearthed in
Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi province, which were among the territories
ruled by Jin and Wei. Although such vessels are used for serving wine,
the design is rare amongst other more widely found vessel forms.
Excavations in early Warring States tombs have only revealed one such
vessel within a large burial, suggesting that such vessels reflected noble
status.

For a similar example excavated in 1988 at Jinshen village, Taiyuan,
Shanxi province, in the Shanxi Museum, see Zhongguo meishu fenlei
quanji. Zhongguo qingtong tongqi quanji 8. Dongzhou 2, Beijing, 1995,
pp.73-74, no.81-83. See also other similar excavated examples in the
Shaanxi Museum of History and Sackler Gallery of Art, Zhongguo meishu
fenlei quanji. Zhongguo qingtong tongqi quanji 8. Dongzhou 2, Beijing,
1995, pp.75-76, no.84-85.

For an example of this rare type in the Arthur Sackler collection,
see Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler
Collection, Washington, 1995, pp.236-239, no.39. The author suggests
that this type of vessel was a ‘short-lived type which appeared toward
the end of the eighth century BC and disappeared by the early fifth
century BC, and illustrates a closely related example formerly in the
collection of Mrs. Otto H. Kahn, now in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York (1949.135.9), illustrated by Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual
Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Washington, 1995, pg.238,
fig.39.1.

東周 蟠蛇紋匏壺

壺口微侈束頸，壺身向一側傾斜，溜肩垂腹，短圈足。壺蓋為
蹲坐鳥，長冠尖喙，一對利爪緊抓小龍兩條，肩部附蹲伏狀虎
形提梁，虎口銜環，環上有鏈，相接鳥尾，環環相拘。壺身飾
有蟠蛇紋四圈，配合蹲鳥伏虎上之重環紋、鱗紋及雲紋，工藝
精緻。

壺仿如匏瓜星座因而得其名，用作盛玄酒。戰國初期之墓出土較
多匏壺，一般較大的墓中都有一件，可見墓主人之貴族地位。因
匏壺多出土於河南、山西及陝西一帶，屬晉國之管轄範圍，應屬
晉國或魏國之器。

造型相類似之匏壺，可參考1988年山西太原金勝村出土之蟠蛇紋
匏壺，見中國青銅器全集編輯委員會，《中國美術分類全集－中
國青銅器全集8．東周2》，北京，1995，頁73-74，編號81-83，
現為山西博物院之藏品。其他參考例子有陝西綏德出土之蟠蛇紋匏
壺及美國賽克勒美術館之藏品，見同書，頁75及76，編號84及85。

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