Page 38 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

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A BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHU
12th-13th century
The compressed globular body cast with a band of archaistic kui
dragon, the tall neck flanked by two lug handles decorated with a
band of archaistic kui dragon scroll against a spiral ground, all raised
on a spreading foot cast with pendent blades, petal lappets and two
bands of key-fret, similarly decorated on the shoulder and the lower
section of the neck.
44.7cm (17 5/8in) high, 3.8kg.
HKD60,000 - 80,000
US$7,700 - 10,000
十二至十三世紀 銅仿古蟠夔紋雙貫耳投壺
Provenance:
Sotheby's, New York, 24 June 1992
The Brian Harkins Collection
來源：
紐約蘇富比，1992年6月24日
布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏
The present vase is decorated on the body with four of the 'Eight 壺口圓唇，兩側鑄貫耳，貫耳及壺口飾仿古蟠夔紋，頸部上段光素，
Treasures': a rhinoceros horn, a double-lozenge, a set of scrolls 下段飾仿古紋四匝，分別是蕉葉紋、蟬紋、水紋、回紋，肩部一圈飾
and a silver ingot. Compare a carved black lacquer square box also 以蟬紋及蕉葉紋兩匝，扁圓鼓腹，出四短戟，每面飾淺浮雕卷雲紋間
decorated with the Eight Treasures, Southern Song dynasty, in the 以八寶，束腰飾水紋、蟬紋及蕉葉紋，圈足壁飾回紋一周，一如頸
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, Japan, illustrated in The Colors and 部。
Forms of Song and Yuan China, Tokyo, 2004, p.104. This type of motif
is also common to blue and white porcelain of the Yuan dynasty. See 宋元銅器較少見裝飾八寶紋樣，所謂八寶未必一定是固定八樣吉祥紋
a blue and white jar decorated with the similar 'Eight Treasures' near 飾，而是從珊瑚枝、珊聰珠、金錠、銀錠、萬卷書，單犀角、雙犀
the foot, Yuan dynasty, in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 角、方勝、雙勝、古錢、火珠(或稱寶珠）、筆錠、如意頭、法螺、
illustrated in Splendors in Smalt: Art of Yuan Blue and White Porcelain, 磐、秋葉等吉祥紋飾中選八樣、四樣、兩樣。發軔於宋，興於元，明
Shanghai, 2012, no.6. 清皆流行之。此壺所飾八寶可辨者有犀角、方勝、萬卷書、銀錠四
樣。裝飾八寶的南宋器物可參考一件日本鶴岡八幡宮藏南宋堆黑長
The archaistic 'kui dragon'-scroll motif seen on the present vase, can 命富貴方箱，見《宋元の美―伝来の漆器を中心に》，東京，2004
be compared with that on a bronze vase, Yuan dynasty, illustrated 年，頁104。元代青花瓷則常見此類裝飾，如大阪市立東洋陶瓷美術
by D.Failla, Food for the Ancestors, Flowers for the Gods, 2017, 館藏一件元代青花魚藻紋罐底部即飾有類似八寶紋樣，見上海博物館
p.218, fig.7.3. Compare also with related silver censer, Southern 編，《幽藍神采：元代青花瓷器特集》，上海，2012年，編號6。
Song dynasty, with similar pattern unearthed in Yiwu, Zhejiang, which
is illustrated by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in the Zhongxing
Jisheng: Nansong Fengwu Guanzhi (Achievements of Southern Song
Dynasty Material Art), Beijing, 2015, p.175.

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