Page 22 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

Some Characteristics of Song, Yuan and Ming Bronze
Observed from the Arrow Vases in the Brian Harkins Collection

Keason Tang Keason Tang

The bronze wares of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have of copper throughout the realm during this period. The main reason
been relatively underrated by Chinese scholars, although this appears for the lack of copper is that as the economy developed, the demand
to be changing. Research relating to later bronzes has not been for copper coins grew. Furthermore, the copper material and bronze
systematic, and there is no comprehensive study. Some of these wares was worth more than the coins itself (which were an alloy),
studies focus only on official or literati archaism. Although bronzes therefore people often smelt the coins to extract the copper or to cast
since the Song dynasty may not be as remarkable when compared wares, leading to a lack of copper coins. Thus the government strictly
with archaic bronzes before the Qin dynasty – that is, the Bronze age controlled the production of bronzes and would do the opposite:
of the Shang and Zhou dynasties – in terms of materials, casting, and smelting bronzes to produce copper coins. In the second year of
shapes, they are nevertheless aesthetically distinct, and their scope Taiping Xingguo of the Northern Song dynasty (977 AD), an edict was
of use went far beyond ritual purpose. Later bronzes form a category issued ordering that ‘all bronze utensils stored by the people should be
of their own, thus Western scholars have sometimes used the term sent to officials and recompensated with cash. Those who dare hide
‘China’s second bronze age’. It is a pity that after the Song, Liao and and not hear this will be treated according to the law’. In the seventh
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Jin dynasties, many bronze wares were recast as currency. Thus, month of the twenty-eighth year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song
very few bronze wares made between the 10 to 13 centuries have dynasty (1158 AD), the Imperial Court ‘orders that all public and private
th
th
survived, except for a few unearthed examples. bronze utensils be sent to the mint; those who do not obey will be
considered breaking the law’.
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The period from the Southern Song dynasty to the Yuan dynasty and
early Ming dynasty, that is, from the 12th to the 15th century, needs From the mid-Yuan dynasty to the early Ming dynasty, the copper
to be categorised and clarified. The Ming dynasty represents another deficiency appeared to be alleviated: larger and heavier bronze wares
peak in the production of bronze ware. Except for the still vague began to appear such as the gilt-bronze Buddha, Yongle period, in
‘Xuande’ bronze wares, research on bronze wares from the Xuande to the British Museum . Lots 27, 29, 35 in the Brian Harkins collection
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the Jiajing and Wanli periods remains to be done. are Yuan/Ming dynasty, and the walls are already thicker than those
from previous dynasties. After the mid-Ming dynasty, there seems to
Brian Harkins collected thirty-five bronze arrow vases from the Song be no shortage of copper, which may be related to the development
to Qing dynasties over four decades. As a comprehensive collection of of foreign maritime trade and greater imports of copper from overseas.
its type, it provides excellent material for examining the characteristics The Xuande Ding Yi Pu (Record of Xuande Ritual Bronzes) records that
of bronzes in this period. By closely examining these thirty-five arrow to cast bronze ritual vessels, Emperor Xuande ordered the Ministry of
vases, this essay summarises some typical characteristics, aiming to Industry to use ‘39,600 catties of Siamese copper’ . Regardless of the
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provide further clues for the dating of bronze arrow vases in the Song, accuracy of the figures, it can be seen that the Ming dynasty imported
Yuan and Ming dynasties. a large amount of foreign copper. The bronze vessels from this period
are large and heavy. For example, Lot 46 is more than 60cm high and
1. CASTING weighs 13.3 kg. Another example is Lot 34, which is nearly 60cm high
and weighs 14.3 kg. Even the courts of Song and Yuan could not
Since the Tang dynasty, bronze, gold and silver wares have been cast compete in extravagance with the amount of copper used in the Ming
and welded by separate casting. This approach has two advantages, dynasty. 5
one is to refine the division of labour; the other is to save on raw
materials. The Brian Harkins collection of arrow vases all use this Another casting feature to point out is the quality of the bronze.
separate casting method. The body of the vase, the ears, necks, base Throughout the Song and Yuan dynasties, the materials used was
etc., are all cast separately and are welded together. Because arrows mostly copper. A bronze vase in the collection of the Victoria and
often hit the base of the vase, this part very often fell off and was Albert Museum, London, was made in the ninth year of Qiandao in the
usually re-welded several times over the centuries; see for example Lot Southern Song dynasty (1173AD), and its bronze formula was 75.8%
25, which has a Qing dynasty mirror as a base. copper, 11.6% tin, 10.7% lead, 1.5% arsenic, and 0.28% iron, 0.09%
manganese. Compared with archaic bronzes in the bronze age, the
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Another notable feature of bronze wares from the Northern Song, Liao, copper content is low, which also confirms the historical record that
Jin and early Yuan dynasties are the thin walls (compared with the late there was a copper deficiency in this period. At the same time, the
Ming and Qing bronzes), which is largely due to the serious shortage high lead content is very likely to be the reason why the surface of

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