Page 22 - Christie's Fine Chinese Qianlong's Bronze Auction September 13, 2018

Fig. 4 Bonze four-legged gui, early Western Zhou dynasty. Christie’s Hong Kong, 7 July 2003, lot 624;
now in the Compton Verney Collection.
圖四 西周早期 青銅四足簋 香港佳士得2003年7月7日拍品624號；現藏Compton Verney

11
Many such motifs continued into the Western Zhou, the “representational” motifs 作堪稱西周近似例的原型。 紐約佳士得於2017
often showing a distinct evolution, the abstract motifs generally remaining more 年3月17日拍出一例西周初年的青銅簋(拍品編號
traditional and conservative, even if presented in slightly new combinations and 1005)，其斜方格乳釘雷紋上下亦飾一道細窄的聯
contexts. The late Shang gui with diamond-and-boss pattern, bordered above
珠紋，此例既印證了西周沿用的商代器形，亦代表
and below by a narrow band of small rings, that sold at Christie’s, New York on
了像本拍品般添加四足的新式青銅簋。 12
22-23 March 2012 (lot 1507) stands as the model from which the related Western
Zhou gui vessels derive. And the early Western Zhou gui with diamond-and-boss 商代和西周初年的青銅彝器為祭祖之用，通常刻
11
pattern, again, bordered top and bottom by a narrow band of small rings, that sold 有簡短的造器銘文。青銅器的「金文」，亦與當時的
at Christie’s, New York on 17 March 2017 (lot 1005) demonstrates the Western
甲骨文密切相關，甲骨文為商代刻於牛肩胛骨或龜
Zhou continuation of the Shang type while also perfectly representing the type of
甲上的卜辭，現代漢字即從兩者演變而來。
vessel to which legs were added to create the present gui vessel. 12
本拍品的內底鑄銘文「作寶彜」，應是指「製此
Used in ceremonies honoring the spirits of deceased ancestors, bronze sacral
vessels from the Shang and early Western Zhou periods often bear short, 寶彜」，但未提及製作者 (或更確切地說是其
dedicatory inscriptions. The so-called bronze-script characters 金文字 are related 製作對象) 的名稱，所以無從得知此器用於何
to contemporaneous oracle-bone characters 甲骨文字—that is, characters carved 人的喪葬儀式。無巧不成書，名器「作寳彜」簋
on ox scapulae 牛肩胛骨 or turtle plastrons 龜腹甲 as part of a divination 也有相同的銘文，該例先後為希臘雅典H.E.
process employed in Shang times—and they are the direct ancestors of modern A.J. Argyropoulos及奧地利維也納Julius
written Chinese. 13
Eberhardt珍藏。
Integrally cast, a short inscription of three characters arranged in a single column
14
上海博物館藏「妅簋」與本拍品淵源尤深； 事實
appears on the foor of this gui; it reads zuo bao yi 作寳彜 and may be translated
上，兩者的斷代、風格和整體外觀皆如出一轍。
“Made [this] precious vessel”. As the name of the maker—more properly, the
name of the person for whom the vessel was made—does not appear in the （圖五）妅簋鑄於西周初年，其四獸足無蹄，器形
inscription, we cannot know in whose funerary ceremonies this vessel was used. 為傳統簋式，鼓腹扁圓，圈足，頸微撇，卷唇。器身
Though likely no more than coincidence, the famous Zuo Bao Yi Gui 作寳彜簋 中段飾斜方格乳釘雷紋，蛇紋繞頸一匝，以雷紋為
formerly in the collection of Julius Eberhardt (of Vienna, Austria) and, before that, 地，圈足光素。妅簋雙耳不作簡單的環狀，其上端
in the collection of H.E. A.J. Argyropoulos (of Athens, Greece), bears the same
為象首，長鼻下垂，底端外捲，以橫片與腹底相連。
inscription. 13
20