Page 180 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

143 A POTTERY TORTOISE-FORM INK STONE AND COVER
EASTERN HAN DYNASTY
東漢 灰陶龜形硯連蓋

the base cleverly modeled in reptile form, animal standing four square with the head raised, gazing upward with rounded
protuberant eyes, the domed shell forming the removable cover, incised with tessellated hexagons and outlined with a similar
pattern at the rim, the oblong lower body recessed to function as the inkstone (2)

Length 8 in., 20.3 cm
$ 6,000-8,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, 1st October 1948. Nagatani, Inc.，芝加哥，1948年10月1日
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d.1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

Traditionally regarded as a symbol of strength, wisdom, endurance and longevity, the tortoise is associated with
auspicious connotations in China since Neolithic times. With the upper shell representing the domed heavens and
the lower shell representing the earth, the creature has been regarded as a symbol of the cosmos. During the Shang
dynasty, the lower shell of a tortoise was used in divination rites. Also associated with water, it is apt that the turtle’s
form has been appropriated for the mixing of ink and water by a scholar.

See a slightly larger version in the collection of the Miho Museum, Kyoto, with a similarly incised upper shell and face,
illustrated in Catalogue of the Miho Museum (The South Wing), Kyoto, 1997, pl. 119. A buff pottery example inscribed
with trigrams is also in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, obj. no. 32.54.4A,B. Other smaller example
also inscribed with trigrams are illustrated in Cary Y. Liu, Michael Nylan and Anthony Barbieri-Low, Recarving China’s
Past: Art Archaeology and Architecture of the “Wu Family Shrines”, New Haven, 2005, pl. 54, and Robert D. Jacobsen,
Celestial Horses & Long Sleeve Dancers: The David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Hong
Kong, 2013, pl. 65.

自新石器時代伊始，龜即有吉祥之意，自古便被視為力， 館，展品編號32.54.4A.B。還有一例較小者，殼上劃飾卦
智，毅，壽之象徵。上殼指天，下殼代地，天圓地方，合 紋，收錄於劉怡瑋、Michael Nylan 及 Anthony Barbieri-
為宇宙。殷商時期便以下殼龜甲占卜。除此外，其形亦可 Low，《Recarving China’s Past: Art Archaeology
適作研墨之器。 and Architecture of the “Wu Family Shrines”》，
紐黑文，2005年，編號54及Robert D. Jacobsen，
見一類例，尺寸略大，藏日本京都美秀博物館，刻畫龜紋 《Celestial Horses & Long Sleeve Dancers: The
相近，收錄於《美秀博物館圖冊（南館）》，京都，1997
David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Chinese Tomb
年，編號119。亦有一黃陶例，藏於明尼阿波利斯美術
Sculpture 》，香港，2013年，圖版65。

178 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA