A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL VESSEL, ZHI
Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 11th/10th century BCThe elegant pear-shaped body flaring to a wide trumpet mouth, raised on a high spreading pedestal foot bound with a double bowstring, cast with a further bowstring below a band of eight zoomorphic crested birds centred with relief bovine heads featuring broad notched ears forming the handles, the interior cast with a two-character inscription, the surface with a glossy patina beneath bright green malachite, blue azurite and red cuprite encrustations. 21.6cm (8 1/2in) high.
注脚
西周早期,公元前11至10世紀 青銅鳥紋觶Provenance: a Japanese private collectionSotheby's London, 18 November 1998, lot 803Sotheby's London, 14 November 2000, lot 2An important European private collectionPublished and Illustrated: Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby's and Christie's Sales, Shanghai, 2007, no.152 來源:日本私人收藏倫敦蘇富比,1998年11月18日,拍品編號803倫敦蘇富比,2000年11月14日,拍品編號2歐洲重要私人收藏出版著錄:汪濤,劉雨,《流散歐美殷周有銘青銅器集錄》,上海,2007年,編號152Zhi vesels such as the present example served as drinking vessels. They were employed in important ritual performances aimed at paying homage to the ancestors. According to Chinese beliefs, the ancestors were deemed active participants in the life of their living offspring, which they could positively influence if provided with the correct necessities for their own afterlife; see J.Rawson, 'The Power of Images: The Model Universe of the First Emperor and Its Legacy', in Historical Research, no.75, 2002, pp.123-154.According to literature dating to the Song dynasty (960-1279), zhi vessels were ring-footed bronze cups. Compared with other forms of wine vessels the zhi form was a late arrival, probably first appearing in the Yinxu period (1250-1192 BC) but not yet common in Shang burials. By the early Western Zhou period the zhi was part of the regular wine vessel set, along with the jue and gu vessles, and its use appears to have continued after the disappearance of these latter forms; see Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London 2009, p.38.Zhi vessels appear to have been cast in two designs: the first type a slender cup similar to the gu beaker; the second form, such as the present example, a fairly low cup, oval in cross-section, with a concave neck and often a lid. The types seem to have co-existed throughout the late Shang and Western Zhou dynasties. The inscription on the vessel fu yi, meaning 'Father Yi', also appears on three bronze jue vessels, 10th/11th century BC, illustrated by N.Barnard and Cheung Kwong-Yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, vol.6, nos.937-939.Zhi vessels decorated with a single band of decoration, such as the present examples, appear to be rare. Compare with a bronze zhi vessel, 11th/10th century BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc.no.49.135.14. See also a related bronze zhi vessel, 11th/10th century BC, illustrated by J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Harvard MA, 1990, no. 101.Copare with a related archaic bronze ritual vessel and cover, zhi, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 24 November 2013, lot 571.本器侈口,束頸,梨形腹微鼓,圈足較高,足底外撇。頸部一周鳥紋飾帶,以中軸相對,首尾相連,兩側浮雕牛首為鈕,下再起弦紋一匝。圈足另飾弦紋兩匝,餘無他飾。器內鑄「父乙」銘文,應為宗廟內祭祀「父乙」而製。觶為酒器,其名早在先秦文獻中已有記載,用於定名此類器物則始於北宋《博古圖》,此後學界一直沿用。觶較觚、爵等其他類型的青銅酒器出現較晚,最早見於殷墟時期,但商代未見大量出土。西周早期開始流行,並逐步取代觚的地位,成為酒器基本組合的核心物品。參汪濤著,《玫茵堂藏中國銅器》,倫敦,2009年,頁38。青銅觶通常分為扁體和圓體兩類,商代和西周時期並存於世。圓體者形似侈口的小壺,較細較長,有些形制比例甚至與觚相似;扁體者則如本例,形狀為橢扁體,下腹鼓出。商晚期的扁體觶頸腹比例各異,西周早期則大多為寬頸垂腹式,呈現如本例腹部下垂較深的式樣。紐約大都會藝術博物館藏一件公元前十一至十世紀青銅觶,藏品編號49.135.14,與本例同樣在頸部飾鳥紋一周,可資比對。另參考一例公元前十一至十世紀青銅觶,見J.Rawson著,《Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》,麻省劍橋,1990年,編號101。一例西周青銅蕉葉紋觶,售於香港邦瀚斯,2013年11月24日,拍品編號571,可為比對。
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