Page 183 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's

Impo rtant Chinese Art
New York |23 Sep 2020 | 09:00 AM EDT

Lot 622

A BRONZE -INLAID PE WTER 'ROMANCE OF THE WESTERN CHAMBER' OCTAGONAL VASE AND
COVER, MING DYNASTY, DATED SIXTH YEAR OF WANLI PERIOD, CORRESPONDING TO 157 8
Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 USD

A BRONZE-INLAID PEWTER 'ROMANCE OF THE WESTERN CHAMBER' OCTAGONAL VASE AND COVER
MING DYNASTY, DATED SIXTH YEAR OF WANLI PERIOD, CORRESPONDING TO 1578
明萬歷六年（1578年） 錫錯銅鏨西廂記人物故事圖八方蓋瓶 《萬曆六年二月十四日造》《匠人閆通趙子寶二人造》款

the octagonal faceted body rising from a spreading foot to a lipped rim, the body incised and inlaid with eight panels enclosing
scenes based on episodes from the Romance of the Western Chamber (Xixiang ji), each depicting figures engaged in various
pursuits and accompanied by titles and descriptive couplets, all below a continuous band of ruyi-head lappets to the shoulders,
the neck inscribed with Wanli liunian eryue shisiri zao (made on the fourteenth day, second month and the sixth year of the Wanli
period) and jiangren Yantong Zhaozibao erren zao (made by artisans Yan Tong and Zhao Zibao), the cover with a large domed knop
also divided into eight facets featuring alternating senes of figures and flowers (2)

Height 15⅜ in., 39.1 cm

Catalogue Note
Widely acknowledged as one of the most popular love stories in Chinese literature, Romance of the Western Chamber first
appeared in the Tang dynasty in a short story by Yuan Zhen ‘The Story of Yingying’. It continued to be retold and elaborated upon
reaching a more definitive form in the 13th century in the version written by Wang Shifu. The play, set in the Tang dynasty, relates
the travails of love that beset a young aristocratic beauty, Yingying, and an aspiring scholar, Zhang Sheng. Contemporary
chronicles and imagery produced in different media attest to the play's enduring popularity. Romance of the Western Chamber was
so famous that series of woodblock prints were created in the late Ming dynasty reproducing key dramatic moments from the play.

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