Page 69 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

24
A RARE BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHU
Yuan Dynasty
The compressed globular body raised on a
tiered foot supporting a tapered section cast
with stylized phoenix on a leiwen ground, the
same pattern repeated above the shoulder and
on the two lug handles flanked on the top of
the neck, the shoulders encircled by a band of
quatrefoil above the main body section divided
by four projecting flanges, the tall slender neck
decorated with two applied writhing chi-dragons.
35.3cm (13 7/8in) high, 2.7kg.
HKD100,000 - 150,000
US$13,000 - 19,000

元 銅螭龍仿古鳳鳥紋雙貫耳投壺
Provenance:
Phillips, London, 9 May 1985
The Brian Harkins Collection
來源：
倫敦富藝斯，1985年5月9日
布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏
This vase is in the same form as lot 23 in the
present catalogue, with the shoulders engraved
with diaper ground within a raised border in the
shape of persimmon sepals. The lobed leaves
between the lappets is close to that seen on
leaves depicted on porcelain and cloisonné
enamel of the Yuan dynasty.

The archaistic phoenix motif on the present
vase is rare on archaistic bronze vessels of the
Song and Yuan dynasties of which the typical
motif would be archaistic scrolls or taotie
patterns. Compare a bronze vase, you, with
an arched handle decorated with the similar
archaistic phoenix motif, Southern Song dynasty,
excavated in Huzhou, Zhejiang, illustrated in
Dynastic Renaissance: Art and Culture of the
Southern Song, Antiquities, Taipei, 2010, pp.68-
69, no.I-15. See also a related phoenix motif
on a bronze vase, Yuan, in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, acc.no.:2014.449.
壺口圓唇，兩側鑄貫耳，其上飾仿古鳳鳥紋，壺
頸以兩道弦紋分為兩段，上段攀附一隻分尾螭
龍，下段飾鳳鳥紋，肩部以寬平陽線勾勒柿蒂
紋，每瓣向內鉤連成蓮葉，內地光素，鼓腹出四
短棱，四面光素，束腰飾仿古紋，高圈足光素。
此壺與本場拍品23屬同一形制，肩部起地成柿
蒂狀，且葉瓣向內收成荷葉狀，荷葉又多呈寶塔
形，元代及明初瓷器常見之。此壺所飾仿古鳳鳥
紋於宋元仿古銅器中亦稱少見，常見多為仿古竊
曲紋或饕餮紋。此類仿古鳳鳥紋可參考浙江湖州
出土南宋銅仿古提梁卣所飾，見《文藝紹興：南
宋藝術與文化·器物卷》，台北，2010年，頁
68-69，編號I-15。亦可參考紐約大都會博物館
藏一件元代貫耳壺頸部所飾鳳鳥紋，館藏編號
2014.449。

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