Page 36 - September 23 to 24 Important Chinese Art Christie's NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE JUNKUNC COLLECTION
711
A VERY RARE COPPER-INLAID BRONZE JAR, HU
WARRING STATES PERIOD, 5TH - EARLY 4TH
CENTURY BC
The vessel with bulbous body is inlaid in copper wire on
the sides and the foot with bands of stylized dragon scroll,
and applied on the shoulders with a pair of taotie mask
handles suspending loose rings.
13 in. (33 cm.) high
$60,000-80,000

PROVENANCE:
Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, 1958.
Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978) Collection.
The development of metal inlay in bronzes of the early
Warring States period, circa 470-circa 370 BC, is
discussed by Jenny So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes
from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, New York,
1995, pp. 46-9. So illustrates two early fifteenth-century
bronze pear-shaped hu with inlaid scroll patterns similar
to those on the present example. The first, fig. 71, is a
gold-inlaid example in the Cleveland Museum of Art with
bands of dissolved dragon pattern, and the second, fig.
74, in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, is inlaid with
copper and turquoise with bands of abstract stepped
patterns. Also illustrated, fig. 73, is a bronze cylindrical
cup and cover of comparable date, in the Avery Brundage
Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which
has lost most of its inlay, but what inlay (possibly copper)
does remain in the bottom register illustrates how
tightly packed metal strips were used to fill the broad
depressions of the design. The same technique of using
tightly packed metal strips, instead of thick sheets, to
fill the large areas of cast design, was also utilized in the
decoration of the current hu.

Like the current vessel, the hu in the Royal Ontario
Museum is decorated just above the ring foot with a
register of heart-shaped motifs. So illustrates, ibid.,
p. 48, fig. 75, a fragment of a clay model with similar
design recovered from Houma Niucun, providing
evidence that Houma was likely a manufacturing center
of these inlaid bronzes.

瓊肯珍藏
戰國 公元前五/四世紀初 青銅錯紅銅龍紋壺
來源:
Nagatani, Inc.，芝加哥， 1958年。
史蒂芬‧瓊肯三世 (1978年逝) 珍藏。

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