Page 92 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

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A BRONZE HEXAGONAL 'BUDDHIST
LIONS' 'ARROW' VASE, TOUHU
Ming Dynasty
The compressed globular body cast with a
hexagonal mid-section decorated with panels
of auspicious beasts galloping over rockwork
landscape divided by projecting flanges, the tall
slender neck flanked by two lug handles incised
with stylised taotie, masks above two high-
relief lions playing with brocade balls opening
their mouths as an additional hollow target for
the arrows, the brocaded balls resting on the
shoulder decorated with archaistic acanthus-leaf
patterns, all raised on a hexagonal tiered foot
supporting a waisted flaring section cast with
archaistic designs.
45.6cm (18in) high, 8.1kg.

HKD80,000 - 120,000
US$10,000 - 15,000

明 銅雙獅戲球獸紋六方貫耳投壺
Provenance:
Christie's South Kensington, London, 15
September 2005
The Brian Harkins Collection

來源：
倫敦佳士得南肯辛頓，2005年9月15日
布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏

The present vase is ingeniously cast with four
arrow holes in the form of lions and balls.
The animals crisply cast on the body can be
identified as lion, tiger, rabbit, deer, goat and
qilin.

Compare with a bronze 'animal' arrow vase,
Ming dynasty, in the Hunan Provincial Museum,
with the similar composition of animals leaping
between two tall mountains, illustrated in
Exhibition of the Collections of Hunan Provincial
Museum, Beijing, 2012, pp.210-211.
壺六方，口方唇，兩側鑄貫耳，其上鏨刻饕餮
紋，壺頸分鑄二隻獅子，獅子中穿成貫耳，肩部
分六格，格內飾仿古饕餮紋，肩部兩側鑄鏤空開
口繡球又成兩耳，以飄帶與雙獅相連，腹平緩，
出六戟，每面飾高浮雕動物，動物皆作奔跨貌，
兩側飾山巒，圈足束腰外撇，六邊出短扉棱，每
面飾饕餮紋，足圈光素，上下兩層。
此壺動物刻畫生動精細，以獅口和繡球為耳孔頗
見匠心。壺身所飾山巒動物，可辨者有獅、虎、
麒麟、兔、鹿、羊。兩山夾動物裝飾之投壺，比
較湖南省博物館藏一件明代動物紋投壺，見陳建
明編，《復興的銅器藝術—湖南晚期銅器展》，
北京，2013年，頁210-211。

90 | BONHAMS