J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Ancient Chinese Bronzes
March 19 - April 9, 2011
10.
A BRONZE TRIPOD VESSEL AND COVER WITH INCISED DECORATION
Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220)
of compressed spherical form raised on three short splayed supports ending in hoof-shaped feet, finely decorated with a triple band of stylized ‘feather tips’ forming a broad frieze around the steeply rounded sides below a narrow band of dotted diamond lattice pattern, in turn surmounted by a raised plain band set with a pair of pierced flange handles supporting loose rings, the sloping shoulders engraved with a collar of slender ‘leaf tips,’ repeated as a border around the flat top of the cover enclosing a medallion of three elegantly drawn running deer filling a circle around the pierced flange knop, the flat vertical edge of the cover fitting precisely over the lip of the jar and engraved on the exterior with a band of concentric diamond motifs, the steel gray surface with attractive blue and green lightly encrusted patina overall, and showing traces of buff earth from burial.
Width 4 inches (10.2 cm)
The highly skilled artistic use of chiseling and incising techniques to ornament this vessel are characteristic of a special group of ancient metalwork produced in southern China which was centered around the areas now designated as Guizhou and Guangxi.
For a detailed discussion of this rare group of Han bronzes, including illustrations of examples from American private collections and museums as well as a summary of archaeological evidence from Chinese excavation reports, see the catalogue of the special exhibition mounted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1973 by Fontein and Wu, Unearthing China’s Past, Boston, 1973, pp.118-124. The authors illustrate a small tripod covered vessel similar to the present example, from the collection of Dr. Paul Singer, as no. 54 on p. 120, and a line drawing of a covered hu engraved with the distinctive ‘feather tips’ motif in a frieze around the neck which was discovered in 1970 in a Han tomb at Hofuxian in Guangxi province is illustrated on p. 122.
Compare also the Han dynasty bronze tripod vessel of closely related form similarly decorated with incised diamond motifs and mythical animals, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, no. 185.
漢 羽紋三足銅罐
寬 10.2 厘米
