Page 122 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

30
A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL VESSEL, ZHI
Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th/10th century BC
The elegant pear-shaped body flaring to a wide trumpet mouth, raised
on a high spreading pedestal foot bound with a double bowstring, cast
with a further bowstring below a band of eight zoomorphic crested
birds centred with relief bovine heads featuring broad notched ears
forming the handles, the interior cast with a two-character inscription,
the surface with a glossy patina beneath bright green malachite, blue
azurite and red cuprite encrustations.
21.6cm (8 1/2in) high.

£30,000 - 40,000
CNY270,000 - 360,000

西周早期，公元前11至10世紀 青銅鳥紋觶

Provenance:
A Japanese private collection
Sotheby’s London, 18 November 1998, lot 803
Sotheby’s London, 14 November 2000, lot 2
An important European private collection

Published and Illustrated:
Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes with
Inscriptions from Sotheby’s and Christie’s Sales, Shanghai, no.152

來源：
日本私人收藏
倫敦蘇富比，1998年11月18日，拍品編號803
倫敦蘇富比，2000年11月14日，拍品編號2
歐洲重要私人收藏

出版著錄：
汪濤，劉雨，《流散歐美殷周有銘青銅器集錄》，
上海，2007年，編號152

Zhi vesels such as the present example served as drinking vessels. Zhi vessels decorated with a single band of decoration, such as the
They were employed in important ritual performances aimed at present examples, appear to be rare. Compare with a bronze zhi vessel,
paying homage to the ancestors. According to Chinese beliefs, the 11th/10th century BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
ancestors were deemed active participants in the life of their living acc.no.49.135.14. See also a related bronze zhi vessel, 11th/10th
offspring, which they could positively influence if provided with the century BC, illustrated by J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from
correct necessities for their own afterlife; see J.Rawson, ‘The Power of the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Harvard MA, 1990, no. 101.
Images: The Model Universe of the First Emperor and Its Legacy’, in
Historical Research, no.75, 2002, pp.123-154. Copare with a related archaic bronze ritual vessel and cover, zhi, which
was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 24 November 2013, lot 571.
According to literature dating to the Song dynasty (960-1279), zhi
vessels were ring-footed bronze cups. Compared with other forms of 本器侈口，束頸，梨形腹微鼓，圈足較高，足底外撇。頸部一周鳥紋
wine vessels the zhi form was a late arrival, probably first appearing 飾帶，以中軸相對，首尾相連，兩側浮雕牛首為鈕，下再起弦紋一
in the Yinxu period (1250-1192 BC) but not yet common in Shang 匝。圈足另飾弦紋兩匝，餘無他飾。器內鑄「父乙」銘文，應為宗廟
burials. By the early Western Zhou period the zhi was part of the 內祭祀「父乙」而製。
regular wine vessel set, along with the jue and gu vessles, and its use
appears to have continued after the disappearance of these latter 觶為酒器，其名早在先秦文獻中已有記載，用於定名此類器物則始於
forms; see Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, 北宋《博古圖》，此後學界一直沿用。觶較觚、爵等其他類型的青銅
London 2009, p.38. 酒器出現較晚，最早見於殷墟時期，但商代未見大量出土。西周早期
開始流行，並逐步取代觚的地位，成為酒器基本組合的核心物品。參
Zhi vessels appear to have been cast in two designs: the first type a 汪濤著，《玫茵堂藏中國銅器》，倫敦，2009年，頁38。
slender cup similar to the gu beaker; the second form, such as the
present example, a fairly low cup, oval in cross-section, with a concave 青銅觶通常分為扁體和圓體兩類，商代和西周時期並存於世。圓體者
neck and often a lid. The types seem to have co-existed throughout 形似侈口的小壺，較細較長，有些形制比例甚至與觚相似；扁體者則
the late Shang and Western Zhou dynasties. 如本例，形狀為橢扁體，下腹鼓出。商晚期的扁體觶頸腹比例各異，
西周早期則大多為寬頸垂腹式，呈現如本例腹部下垂較深的式樣。
The inscription on the vessel fu yi, meaning ‘Father Yi’, also appears
on three bronze jue vessels, 10th/11th century BC, illustrated by 紐約大都會藝術博物館藏一件公元前十一至十世紀青銅觶，藏品編號
N.Barnard and Cheung Kwong-Yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of 49.135.14，與本例同樣在頸部飾鳥紋一周，可資比對。另參考一例
Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and 公元前十一至十世紀青銅觶，見J.Rawson著，《Western Zhou Ritual
Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, vol.6, nos.937-939. Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，麻省劍橋，1990
年，編號101。一例西周青銅蕉葉紋觶，售於香港邦瀚斯，2013年11
月24日，拍品編號571，可為比對。

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120 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.