Page 36 - Sotheby's NYC September 20 2022 Forging An Empire Bronzes

With Albert’s help, the collection continued to expand until the 1960s, when, amidst the backdrop of
increased political uncertainty, Li decided to contact his friend and former director of the Shanghai
Museum, Ma Chengyuan (1927-2004), to safeguard his treasured pieces in the museum to protect
them from the tumultuous events of the Cultural Revolution. Eventually, the pieces were donated by
Li’s wife, Qiu Hui, to the Shanghai Museum in 1979 (fig. 5), in honor of Li, who had passed away seven
years prior. By that time, Albert had moved to Canada, and was greatly distraught that the collection
he grew up learning about and loving was now lost to him. Coupled with the loss of his father, the
nostalgia and wistful longing of the time spent together learning about archaic bronzes propelled him
to build his own collection.

“When there is possession there is loss, when there is gathering there is dispersion, this is the
common way of life.”
Li Qingzhao, Jinshilu houxu (Epilogue to Record of Metal and Stone)

有了李爾白的參與，李家的收藏不斷擴大。六十年代 悲慟以及對重溫舊日時光的渴望，促使他開始建立自
政局動盪，李蔭軒聯絡到他的朋友、前上海博物館館 己的收藏。
長的馬承源（1927-2004），將藏品託付給了上博，以 Fig. 4 The Lu Hou Zun illustrated in Y.P. Lee’s Important Inscribed Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Li Yingshuan
Collection in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1996, pl. 13, and an inscription rubbing of the Lu Hou Zun by Li Yingshuan
為妥善保管。之後此收藏於1979年由李蔭軒的太太邱 「然有有必有無，有聚必有散，乃理之常。」
圖四 魯侯尊錄於李爾白，《李蔭軒所藏中國青銅器》，上海，1996年，圖版13及李蔭軒作魯侯尊銘文拓片
輝女士捐獻給了上海博物館（圖五）以紀念早於七年 李清照，《金石錄》後序
前離世的李蔭軒先生。那時李爾白已移居加拿大，在
得悉失去了自幼相伴身旁的器物後十分難過。喪父的

“ T H U S , U N K NO W I NG L Y A N D Albert shared many characteristics with his father; he was a reserved and unassuming collector, and
sought out the highest caliber of bronzes he could find. With every piece he collected, he carried on
P R A C T I C A L L Y, I H A D BE E N the epigraphic practices learned from his father – making rubbings, recording old references, and
meticulously composing manuscripts that captured every detail of each piece. Far away from China,
PA R T I C I PA T I N G I N T H E P R O C E S S the son took on where the father left off. Unconsciously (or perhaps consciously), Albert gravitated
towards his father’s collection as much as possible. On a serendipitous encounter, he was able to
O F F O R M I N G A M A J O R A R C H A I C seek out an identical San Bo Gui (lot 6), which belonged to the same set as the one in his father’s

BR O N Z E CO LLE C T I O N . " 「就這樣，我在不知不覺間親手 collection that he would have no doubt grown up studying and researching (fig. 6).
參與了一個重要高古青銅器收藏
A L B ER T Y . P . L EE
李家父子性格相近，李爾白與父親一樣作風低調，默 承父志，篤行不倦。他的藏品總是有意無意地與父親的
的建立。」 默搜羅市場上所能找到的青銅佳器。每得一件藏品， 舊藏有所交集，某次機緣巧合之下，他搜集到一件散伯
他都會遵循父親的教誨進行拓印、收集早期文獻及詳 簋（拍品6），與其父舊藏屬同組之器（圖六）。
李爾白 細記錄所有細節。即使遠離中國大陸，李爾白依然繼

34 POWER / CONQUEST: THE FORGING OF EMPIRES