J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Silver and Gold in Ancient China
March 16 – April 14, 2012
25.
A SILVER VASE WITH DRAGON FRIEZE
Southern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1127-1279)
of pear shape with cylindrical neck rising to a wide mouth with squared rim, decorated in relief on the sloping shoulders with a frieze of addorsed dragons with scroll-bodies stretched out and their necks and tails entwined, reserved on a roughened ground between plain horizontal borders, the top of the neck with an incised collar of twin scrolls and lozenge motifs in a zig-zag arrangement, the spreading foot incised with a repeating pattern of stippled leaves on a continuous undulating stem, the base incised in outlined kaishu with two large characters: mei yan (梅壧), which may be translated as “Plum Cliff,” possibly a place name or perhaps a poetic reference, the metal showing an uneven tarnish overall.
Height 5 3⁄4 inches (14.6 cm)
Compare the two silver vases of closely related form and decoration illustrated in Hunan Song Yuan jiaocang jinyinqi faxian yu yanjiu (The Discovery and Research on Gold and Silver Wares Unearthed from Caches of Song and Yuan Dynasties in Hunan), Beijing, 2009, p. 29, nos. 57 and 58. The same vases are illustrated again in Hunan chutu jinyinqi (Gold and Silver Excavated in Hunan), Changsha, 2009, pp. 107-108, nos. 76-77, attributed to Southern Song – Yuan dynasty.
A plain silver vase of this form unearthed in 1990 from a Southern Song tomb dated by epitaph to A.D. 1250 is illustrated in the excavation report entitled ‘Xu Jun’s Tomb of the Southern Song Dynasty at Chayuanshan, Fuzhou,’ Wenwu, 1995, No. 10, p. 26, no. 11.
Compare the inscription similarly incised in outlined kaishu characters, on the bottom of a pear-shaped silver vase (yuhuchun ping) excavated in 1994 from a hoard at Shidong village, Qiaotouhe town, Lianyuan city, Hunan province, illustrated op. cit., Beijing, 2009, p. 280, no. 570, and again, op. cit., Changsha, 2009, p. 271, no. 235, attributed to the Yuan dynasty.
Compare also the similar design of repoussé entwined dragons within a double-line border on a silver ewer and warmer set unearthed in 1993 from a Song dynasty silver hoard in Pengzhou, Sichuan province, illustrated in Sichuan Pengzhou Song dai jinyinqi jaocang (The Song Dynasty Gold and Silver Hoard from Pengzhou in Sichuan), Beijing, 2003, color plate 36-1 and 37. The same ewer set is illustrated again in Song Yun: Sichuan jiaocang wenwu jicui (Song Yun: Selected Relics from the Sichuan Hoards), Beijing, 2006, pp. 142-143.
A Song dynasty silver footed bowl decorated in the same style and technique with a band of scrolling vines, discovered in 1993 in a hoard at Xidajie, Pengchuan city, Sichuan province, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu fenlei quanji, Zhongguo jin yin boli falang qi quanji (Illustrated Classification of Chinese Art, Chinese Gold, Silver, Glass, and Cloisonné), Vol. II, Gold and Silver (II), Shijiazhuang, 2004, p. 153, no. 276, attributed to the Southern Song dynasty.
南宋 雙龍紋銀膽瓶 高 14.6 厘米
25.
A SILVER VASE WITH DRAGON FRIEZE
Southern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1127-1279)
Height 5 3⁄4 inches (14.6 cm)