Page 49 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

814 A BRONZE BOTTLE VASE 唐ǭ銅長頸≡
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The vase has an ovoid body surmounted by a slender neck rising Ϝ源
to a flared rim, and has a silvery black patina with cuprite and 藍理捷
紐約
編號
malachite encrustation.
7æ in. (19.7 cm.) high
$12,000-18,000
PROVENANCE:
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 4885.

Vases of this shape, known as ambrosia vases, were often shown
in Buddhist images and sculpture carried by the bodhisattva
Guanyin (Avalokitesvara). They were thought to contain the
healing elixir that the bodhisattva could pour out for mortals
seeking salvation.

A bronze vase of very similar form in the Idemitsu Museum,
Tokyo, is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu
Collection, Tokyo, 1989, no. 330, where it is dated Sui-Tang
dynasty. Another similar bronze vase in the Tokyo National
Museum is illustrated in ChĿgoku no kyįdį: rokuro hiki no seidįki
(Tin-Bronze of China: Bronzes of the Potter’s Wheel), Osaka,
1999, p. 32, no. 56. See, also, the Tang bronze vase of very
similar form in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, illustrated by
R. Jacobsen in Appreciating China – Gifts from Ruth and Bruce
Dayton, Minneapolis, 2002, p. 56, no. 24.

813 A BRONZE BASIN 唐ǭ銅鉢
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The shallow basin has steep sides with a flat base and has a smooth Ϝ源
年入藏於香港
green patina with patches of malachite encrustation.
藍理捷
紐約
編號
8æ in. (22.2 cm.) diam., cloth box
$5,000-7,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1999.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 3093.

A bronze basin of very similar form unearthed in 1957 from a
Sui dynasty tomb located in the outskirts of Xi’an, is illustrated
in Tang Chang’an cheng jiao Sui Tang mu (Excavations of Sui and
Tang Tombs at Xi’an), Beijing, 1980, pl. 13:4, and described on
p. 20.

(interior)

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