Page 110 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

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A LARGE BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHU
Ming Dynasty
The pear-shaped body cast with taotie masks
reserved against a leiwen ground, raised on
a tall spreading foot decorated with a band
of archaistic dragons on a leiwen ground, the
tall slender neck cast in high relief with a pair
of sinuous chilong with their legs grasping the
vase forming slim handles on incised pendent
blades, the top flanked with two lug handles and
similarly decorated with taotie masks.
54.5cm (21 1/2in) high, 11.6kg.
HKD120,000 - 150,000
US$15,000 - 19,000

明 螭龍饕餮紋大投壺
Provenance:
The Brian Harkins Collection

來源：
布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏
The overall style of the present vase with crisply
cast motifs can be compared to a group of
bronze ritual vessels, Ming dynasty, with related
taotie masks, see X.Y.Yang, Qufu kongmiao
jiucun mingdai tongqi yanjiu (A Research of the
Bronze Ritual Vessels of the Ming Dynasty in the
Confucius Temple at Qufu), in the Zhongyuan
Wenwu(Cultural Relics of Central China), June
2016, p.141, figs.7-1, 7-2 and 7-3.
壺口方唇，兩側鑄貫耳，貫耳飾回紋地，壺口前
後飾饕餮紋，以回紋為地，壺頸與壺身一體鑄
造，上斂下展，頸身飾四片蕉葉紋，以回紋為
地，前後兩側攀附兩隻螭龍，螭龍昂首，身形細
長，躬身成鋬，尾分兩開，溜肩，鼓腹，腹部飾
饕餮紋四面，以回紋為地，束腰，上飾四對細小
螭龍紋，回紋地。
此壺體量巨大，紋飾規整，其整體風格與山東孔
廟藏一組明代青銅禮器頗似，其饕餮紋面部扁
平，與回紋地相平，回文鑄造極為工整，銅色亦
相近，見楊孝瑜撰，《曲阜孔廟舊存明代銅禮
器研究》，載於《中原文物》，2021年6月，頁
141，圖七-1、2、3。

108 | BONHAMS