Page 60 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

17
A BRONZE 'DRAGONS' ARROW VASE,
TOUHU
Yuan Dynasty
Heavily cast with a compressed globular body
rising from a spreading foot and surmounted by
a tall cylindrical neck, the body interrupted by
three raised scalloped flanges, each side cast in
relief with archaistic taotie masks and a pushou
handle suspending a loose ring, the splayed foot
decorated with stylised cicadas, all below two
sinuous dragons writhing around the neck below
a pair of tubular lug handles flanking the upper
neck, with a warm brown tone patina.
47.2cm (18 5/8in) high, 6kg.
HKD60,000 - 80,000
US$7,700 - 10,000
元 銅饕餮紋龍紋帶鋪首三出戟投壺
Provenance:
Christie's South Kensington, London, 2 May
1985
The Brian Harkins Collection

來源：
倫敦佳士得南肯辛頓，1985年5月2日
布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏
The forked and scrolling mane on the head of
the chilong seems typical of the Southern Song
to Yuan dynasties. Compare Lot 45 and its
footnote comparing two gold and silver vessels
of the Southern Song dynasty decorated with
related chilong.

The raised bosses on the shoulder are believed
to be plum blossom buds which is a popular
motif in the Yuan dynasty, commonly decorated
on Longquan wares from the Yuan to early
Ming dynasties. Compare a Longquan celadon
incense burner, Yuan dynasty, in the Longquan
Museum, Zhejiang, with plum blossom bosses
along the mouth rim, illustrated by M.Wang,
'Song Yuan Fanggu Qingtongqi Shang De
Wenyang'(The Decoration on the Bronzes in
Song and Yuan Dynasties), Shoucangjia(The
Collectors), October 2010, p.53, fig.34.
Compare also the bosses on the present vase
to those on two bronze vases in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London, acc.nos.:2698-1856
and 168-1876.
The combination of taotie motif with lion-
mask handles is also a typical design from the
Southern Song to the Yuan dynasties. See a
silver bowl, Southern Song dynasty, excavated
in Pengzhou, Sichuan, illustrated in The Song
Dynasty Gold and Silver Hoard from Pengzhou in
Sichuan, Beijing, 2002, pl.38-2.

Compare the archaistic design, jiaoye, plantain
leaves on the neck with those on a bronze vase,
12th-14th century, in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, illustrated by R.Kerr, Later
Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p.15, no.1,
and on another bronze vase in Metropolitan
Museum of Art, acc.no.:2021.294.

58 | BONHAMS