Page 129 - March 23, 2022 Sotheby's NYC Fine Chinese Works of Art

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A BRONZE-INLAID PEWTER ‘ROMANCE OF THE A MINIATURE GILT-SPLASHED BRONZE VASE
WESTERN CHAMBER’ OCTAGONAL VASE AND 17TH / 18TH CENTURY
COVER the base with an apocryphal Xuande six-character mark
MING DYNASTY, DATED SIXTH YEAR OF WANLI Height 3⅝ in., 9.2 cm
PERIOD, CORRESPONDING TO 1578
⊖ $ 3,000-5,000
the neck inscribed with Wanli liunian eryue shisiri zao (made
on the fourteenth day, second month and the sixth year of
the Wanli period) and jiangren Yantong Zhaozibao erren zao 十七 / 十八世紀 銅灑金雙耳小瓶
(made by artisans Yan Tong and Zhao Zibao) (2)
Height 15⅜ in., 39.1 cm 《大明宣德年製》仿款
Widely acknowledged as one of the most popular love stories
in Chinese literature, Romance of the Western Chamber
first appeared in the Tang dynasty in a short story by Yuan
Zhen ‘The Story of Yingying’. It continued to be retold and
elaborated upon reaching a more definitive form in the 13th
century in the version written by Wang Shifu. The play, set
in the Tang dynasty, relates the travails of love that beset a
young aristocratic beauty, Yingying, and an aspiring scholar,
Zhang Sheng. Contemporary chronicles and imagery
produced in different media attest to the play’s enduring 409
popularity. Romance of the Western Chamber was so famous
that a series of woodblock prints was created in the late Ming
dynasty reproducing key dramatic moments from the play.
These prints proved to be a very useful resource in providing
a visual template that allowed artists to more readily satisfy
the demand for the subject matter whether destined for the
imperial household or for mass consumption.
The present vase illustrates several scenes based on the
woodblock prints. Among the scenes depicted are ‘Zhang
Departs for the Capital’ when the lovers sorrowfully part as
the young scholar sets out to take the imperial examinations
and ‘Zhang Sheng visiting Pujiu Temple’ depicting Zhang
Sheng being shown around the monastery by the abbot but
distracted by the beautiful Cui Yingying who was strolling in 410
the garden with her attendant Hong Niang.
Compare an octagonal pewter covered vase depicting scenes AN ARCHAISTIC PARCEL-GILT SILVER-INLAID
of pavilions and figures in gardens with an inscription dated BRONZE ‘TAOTIE’ VASE (HU)
to the Jiajing period, sold three times in these rooms, first, QING DYNASTY
9th October 1957, lot 194; second, 5th December 1972, lot Height 18½ in., 47 cm
210, and then again, 2nd November 1979, lot 105.
Scenes from the play are often illustrated on porcelain, see a PROVENANCE
large cylindrical vase depicting twenty-four scenes from the Japanese Private Collection.
drama in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated
in Stacey Pierson, Chinese Ceramics, London, 2009, pl. 95.
⊖ $ 3,000-5,000
$ 50,000-70,000
清 銅局部鎏金錯銀仿古饕餮紋壺
明萬歷六年（1578年） 錫錯銅鏨西廂記
來源
人物故事圖八方蓋瓶 日本私人收藏
《萬曆六年二月十四日造》《匠人閆通
趙子寶二人造》款

410
END OF SALE
254 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10917 255