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全球拍卖首页 > Bonhams UK > 中国艺术 > Lot 53
AN IMPORTANT AND RARE MONUMENTAL ARCHAISTIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, FANG HU Song/Ming Dynasty
英国 北京时间
05月16日 下午5点 开拍 / 05月14日 下午3点 截止委托
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拍品描述 翻译
THE LI HONGZHANG AND AXEL CARLANDER FANG HU 李鴻章和Axel Carlander青銅方壺
AN IMPORTANT AND RARE MONUMENTAL ARCHAISTIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, FANG HU
Song/Ming Dynasty
The imposing vessel of oblong pear-shaped form with rounded corners, rising from a high rectangular-shaped flaring pedestal foot to a flared waisted neck flanked by a pair of tapir handles each suspending a loose ring, the body cast with raised tapering cross straps simulating leather strapwork centred by diamond and half-diamond shaped rivets, each of the four cells on the central border enclosing relief cast adult and young confronted birds with a chilong from above, the adult bird comprising of two birds, all between the lower bulbous unadorned cells, and a border around the neck relief cast on each of the wider sides with a pair of confronted birds within a taotie mask comprising interlocking chilong and trunk-shaped elements, with a plain flaring rim mirroring the unadorned lower section, the foot similarly relief cast to the neck above a plain rectangular pedestal. 52.8cm (20 3/4in) high.
宋/明 青銅鳥紋雙獸耳方壺

Provenance: Li Hongzhang, GCVO (1823-1901), Premier of the Viceroyalty of Zhili and leading statesman during the late Qing dynasty
Li Jingfang (also known as Li Ching-Fong) (1854-1934), nephew and adopted son of Li Hongzhang; a Chinese statesman during the late Qing dynasty
Noted in a Valuation and report on the Lord Li Ching Fong collection, Tianjin, 30 May 1918, no.410
Axel Carlander (1869-1939), Sweden, acquired circa May 1918, and thence by descent

Published and Illustrated: Li Jingfang, Chinese Art of Past Generations, Shanghai, 1916, pl.D9845.

The Li Hongzhang / Axel Carlander Fang Hu - Cecilia Nordstr?m

來源： 李鴻章，皇家維多利亞勳章受勛人（1823-1901），直隸總督，晚清政治家
李經方（1854-1934），李鴻章侄子和養子；晚清政治家
在"李經方藏品評估報告"中被提及，天津，1918年5月30日，編號410
Axel Carlander (1869-1939)，瑞典，約於1918年5月獲得，並由後人保存迄今

展覽著錄：李經方，《Chinese Art of Past Generations》，上海，1916年，編號D9845

李鴻章/Axel Carlander方壺- Cecilia Nordstr?m

The exceptionally rare bronze ritual vessel has one of the most distinguished pedigrees, originating in the collection of one of the most eminent Chinese statesmen in the late Qing dynasty - Li Hongzhang - and sold to an equally illustrious group of Swedish gentlemen, including the Crown Prince, Gustav Adolph, and the renowned industrialist Axel Carlander. What is all the more extraordinary, are the existing records of the sale of Li Hongzhang's collection, through his nephew and adopted son, Li Jingfeng (Li Ching Fong), with a valuation report dated to 30 May 1918, listing the present vessel as no.410, when it was described as:

1 Shang dynasty Sacrificial Wine Vase.21" high. Ears with rings no cover. Centre of vase cracked half way round. slightly repaired[.] Fine piece and uncommon. Value $5000. [printed] = 27.183:45 [in pencil]

Axel Carlander was an important Swedish industrialist, businessman, politician, and philanthropist with a great passion for art. After completing business studies in Germany in 1896 and in England 1890-1891 he went on a around-the-world trip in 1891-1893 studying cotton and silk trade in line with family investments in this area. In his travel journal he writes about his visits to China and Japan, which probably piqued his interest in these arts.

He was deputy director in Johansson-Carlander 1892-1921 and managing director 1921-1939. Axel and his father co-founded the Swedish Kullagerfabriken (SKF) in 1907, and he was chairman of the board in SKF 1907-1937, vice chairman of the board of the Swedish North America line 1914, and from 1925 its chairman. He initiated the great Gothenburg Jubilee Exhibition in 1923. Additionally, he was on the board of AB Volvo 1917-1926, and then chairman of Volvo 1926-1931.

Carlander was also heavily involved in philanthropy. He made extensive donations to the society and is well-known for building the Carlanderska Hospital in Gothenburg, as well as establishing the Axel Carlander Fund.

Axel Carlander was a personal friend of Gustaf Adolf, the Swedish Crown Prince from 1907, who became King Gustaf VI Adolf from 1950. Gustav Adolf was well-known for his great enthusiasm and collecting of Chinese art, befriending great collectors and curators such as R.L. Hobson at the British Museum, George Eumorfopoulos, Oscar Raphael and Percival Yetts, and later Sir Percival David. In 1911 the Crown Prince became the chairman of the organisation 'Friends of the National Museum'. Together with Torsten Laurin, Axel Lagrelius and Johan Gunnar Andersson and a group of members of the Swedish finance world he established the China Committee, gathering funds to purchase Chinese works of art for the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities at Stockholm.

In 1918, they all pitched in together to buy the collection of the late Li Hongzhang, GCVO (1823-1901), Premier of the Viceroyalty of Zhili and leading statesman during the late Qing Dynasty.

They calculated that they needed SEK 1,000,000. Each member contributed SEK 50,000 plus an extra SEK 4,000 for expenses - a considerable amount at the time. In China, the Swedish Geologist Professor Erik Nystr?m (1879-1963), also leader of the University in Shansi Taiyuan-Fu was in charge, and together with an English dealer who was based in Tientsin, George Patrick Joseph Crofts (1871-1925), seemed to be leading the effort (in his notes Carlander protests the vast charge of ￡3,000 by Crofts). Crofts alongside fur trade, was engaged in sourcing antiques for museums such as the Royal Ontario Museum, as well as various London dealers, including S.M. Franck & Co., a wholesale dealer who in turn supplied objects to institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as to other dealers. When the objects arrived, part was donated to the National Museum. The National Museum's Board of Directors report of 1920 describes the donation as:

'A consortium of private investors who has purchased the collection of the famous statesman Li-Hun-Chang's phenomenally rich and interesting collection of older Chinese works of art. They have with the finest of the government collections in mind, most generously agreed to donate a tenth of the collection to be included in the museum – and with the right of the museum to choose pieces. It further moves on to the engineer G. E Gadelius who also donates a large collection of 100 Chinese ceramics. Through these two valuable gifts, the museum collection of older Chinese works of art, that recently were started, has in one blow received an addition highly important in number and quality and of exceptional value'.

The Board report lists a number of Chinese paintings that were donated from the Li Hongzhang collection and added to the Museum collection (p.22). Followed by listing a number of Chinese works of art that were donated by the syndicate and purchased from the Li Hongzhang collection, including bronzes, tombstones, jades, pottery, rhinoceros horns, etc.

Axel Carlander was one of the consortium's investors. He had already funded many of Johan Gunnar Andersson's excavations and expeditions to China. He decided to donate part of his share to the R?hsska museum in Gothenburg. He then let the Crown Prince choose a few objects as a gift, which were later donated to the Swedish ?stasiatiska Museet as a part of the King's gift to the people.

Importantly, the present Fang Hu vase is described in his diaries as being of great importance and evaluated at the time at a sum of 27,183 Swedish crona. He writes that he received a rather beautiful Chinese bronze vase that is several thousand years old, that he placed it on his staircase between the flights. Other Chinese pieces from his collection were later donated to the ?stasiatiska Museet.

Many of the China Committee members continued with the task of acquiring items for their collections and museums, also investing in the better known and researched 'Karlbeck Consortium/syndicate' which included in addition to key museums such as the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Stockholm), The British Museum, The Louvre and Berlin State Museum, also important collectors such as HRH Gustaf Adolf IV of Sweden, Oscar Raphael, Henry Oppenheim and George Eumorfopoulos, to name a few.

The Axel Carlander fang hu, is undeniably a masterpiece of archaistic bronze casting and design, inspired by Western Zhou dynasty vessels but made during the Song/Ming dynasty. The design is crisply cast and exceptionally well-balanced. This is clearly seen in the use of relief design emphasised by the unadorned space around it, alternating with the plain pedestal, lower body and rim, showcasing the magnificent contours and size of the monumental ritual vessel, all framed by the simulated leather strapwork with diamond shaped bosses.

For related Western Zhou dynasty bronze examples: the middle western Zhou dynasty fang hu, in the Nezu Bijutsukan, Tokyo, illustrated by J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol.III, Washington D.C., 1990, p.611, fig.95.3 (58.5cm high including cover); and another, late Western Zhou dynasty, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, ibid., p.614, fig.95.7 (53.4cm high including cover). See also a related bronze fang hu, Western Zhou dynasty, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc.no.1988.20.4a, b (55.2cm high including cover). See also a further fang hu, Western Zhou dynasty, in the Art Institute Chicago, acc.no.2008.702 (48.5cm high). For another related example, mid-Western Zhou dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, (image no.K1A002132N000000000PAC). See also a related fang hu, early Spring and Autumn period, in the Shanghai Museum, excavated in Taixin county, Shandong Province (40.6cm high), illustrated by Li Jianwei and Niu Ruihong, Zhongguo Qingtongqi Tulu, Beijing, vol.I, p.199 (top). Finally, see a related example with stylised dragon designs within each framed strapwork, early Eastern Zhou dynasty, illustrated by J.Rawson, ibid., vol.IIA, p.125, fig.180.

Whilst the present vase shares with the above examples the general form and relief strapwork, and many demonstrate variations in design, it is otherwise exceptionally rare in the framed relief decoration with plain spacing around it, allowing the decoration to stand out. However, compare the relief-cast decoration of a bird on each side of a bronze gong, early Western Zhou dynasty, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by J.Rawson, ibid., vol.IIA, p.50, fig.54. See also the use of plain space and cast-decorated space within the strapwork cells on a related bronze hu, Western Zhou dynasty, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by R-Y L. d'Argence, Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1977, pp.100-101, pl.42 (top left).

Whilst the present vessel shares many close similarities to the Western Zhou archetypes, its method of casting and design demonstrate it is a remarkable vase produced during the Song/Ming dynasty as part of the archaic revival movement which became prevalent from the late Northern Song and Southern Song dynasties. This was greatly influenced by the Bogutu or Xuanhe Bogutu, the illustrated catalogue of archaic bronzes collected by the Northern Song dynasty Court, which was first published in the fifth year of Yuanhe reign (1123 AD), and republished in various editions during the Southern Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Whilst the archaistic attribution would appear clear nowadays, it is important to recall that when it passed through the collection of Li Hongzhang and then his adopted son and nephew, Li Jingfang, it was highly prized as a Shang bronze; see Li Jingfang, Chinese Art of Past Generations, Shanghai, 1916, pl.D9845, which places the vessel with other Shang and Zhou dynasty bronzes and is described as being 'decorated with fabulous animals & scrolls' (p.26).


A Note on Li Hongzhang

In 1853 when the Taiping rebels reached Anhui, Li returned to organise the militia. Under the Governor of Anhui's direction, he led local recruits and won a battle at Yuxikou, gaining the decoration of a Sixth Grade Official. In 1854 he joined the staff of the new Governor of Anhui and a year later was promoted to the rank of Prefect. Following further successes by the army, he was given the rank of a Provincial Judge and was registered as prepared for the office of an Intendant in 1857.

Victories revived the Taiping cause in 1860 and Li was persuaded to recruit forces and proceeded to Shanghai as the Acting Governor of Jiangsu and was later made Southern Superintendant of Trade. It was during this period that Li cooperated with Charles George ('Chinese') Gordon as head of the Ever Victorious Army. Together with the Hunan and Anhui 'Braves', Taicang, Kunshan, Jiangyin and Suzhou were captured. In 1864 Changzhou was captured and the Ever Victorious Army was disbanded.

In 1865 Li was made Acting Governor-General at Nanjing where he established an arsenal and was later made Imperial Commissioner to subdue bandits. In 1867 he was made Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei and was awarded the minor hereditary rank of Qiduyu (騎都尉) and the title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and was made concurrently an Associate Grand Secretary. In 1869 Li became Governor-General at Wuchang.

Following the Tianjin massacre on 21 June 1870 he was appointed as Governor-General of Zhili, serving concurrently as Grand Secretary (1872-1901) and after 1879 he held the honorary title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. As the Northern Superintendant of Trade almost any question involving Foreign Relations, the adoption of Western techniques or the dispatch of students abroad came to his attention.

In 1871 Li negotiated and signed a treaty with Japan. In 1874, following the annexation of the Liuqiu (Ryukyu) islands by Japan, Li requested the American General Grant to plead in Japan for reconsideration of the issue, intimating that in return China would facilitate the proposed negotiations for limiting the emigration of Chinese to the United States. Grant was instrumental and Japan sent Takezoe Shinichiro to negotiate with Li. Li at first agreed to divide the islands, but when opposition grew, allowed the agreement to lapse.

The official account of his campaign against the Nian rebels, entitled Jiaoping Nianfei Fanglue (剿平捻匪方略), was completed in 1872 and published by the Zongli Yamen, illustrating the strong connection between them.

As Plenipotentiary, Li concluded the Chefoo Convention in 1876, opening new ports and regulating the trade between Burma and Yunnan. Li was further involved in 1882 in treaty negotiations between America and Korea.

Li Hongzhang, like Prince Gong, realised that China had to modernise its military capabilities, communications and machinery. He therefore became the patron of many new economic enterprises and technical innovations. In 1872 Li supported the proposal for the establishment of a steamship line, carrying rice from the South. From this developed China Merchant Line whose ships ran also to Japan, the Philippines and Singapore. In 1880 he advocated the resumption of railway building and he sponsored the first permanent telegraph lines in China, as well as proposals for schools to train Chinese to conduct these modern enterprises. A Military Academy was opened in Tianjin in 1885. Prior to that were the beginnings of building a modern navy, as he believed that if China did not catch up in shipbuilding and gun-making soon, Japan would imitate the West and take advantage of China. However, the arsenals and ship-building yards were considered as provincial rather than central enterprises, which created drawbacks. Up to 1888, Li as an Associate Controller of the Board of Admiralty secured funds to build a fleet of 28 vessels; however, the requisition of 2 million taels to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday crippled the navy.

Around 1883 Li negotiated a treaty with France, securing recognition of Chinese suzerainty over Vietnam and placing a neutral zone between Chinese and French spheres. This treaty was repudiated by France and following the war, a new treaty was signed by Li in 1885 though without great loss of prestige to China. Following riots in Korea in 1882, Li was involved in the negotiations and attempted in the next nine years to recover Chinese prestige and control of Korea.

In 1886 Li succeeded in removing the Catholic Church which overlooked the Forbidden City; this required direct negotiations in Rome and with the bishop in Beijing.

On Li Hongzhang's seventieth birthday in 1892, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor showered him with gifts and honours. A work containing pictures of the celebration and eulogies by his friends was published in 6 volumes under the title Hefei Xiangguo Qishi Cishoutu (合肥相國七十賜壽圖).

Following the Sino-Japanese War in which Li's fleet was defeated and his Korean policy shattered, Li was deprived of honours but held his post. In the ensuing negotiations with Japan, Li was appointed as Plenipotentiary and travelled to Shimonoseki. He was shot and wounded by a fanatic, and profuse apologies were made and a limited armistice was granted. Li's nephew, Li Jingfeng, continued the negotiations and in 1895 China was compelled to accept the Japanese terms.

In 1896 Li represented China on the occasion of the Tsar's coronation in Moscow, where he negotiated a secret treaty aimed against Japan. From Russia, Li proceeded to visit the Kaiser and Chancellor Bismarck in Germany, further stopping at The Hague, Brussels and Paris. He had an audience with Queen Victoria, and was introduced to President Cleveland in Washington.

In the summer of 1898, during the 'Hundred Days of Reform', Li was dismissed from the Zongli Yamen and was sent to supervise conservation work along the Yellow River. He retained his position as Superintendant for the North and in 1899 made a tour of inspection of the main northern seaports. Soon afterwards he was appointed Acting Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and was then made a full Governor-General. He set out to curb the gambling but did not accomplish much before the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, when he was recalled to Beijing to negotiate with the Western powers. Appointed Governor-General and Plenipotentiary of Zhili he strove to minimise the indemnities and make the conditions free from undue humiliation, but the power lay in the hands of the triumphant Western powers and the onerous treaty was signed on 7 September 1901. He died on 7 November.

Li was posthumously given the title of Grand Tutor, the name Wenzhong (文忠) and the hereditary rank of Marquis of the First Class. His name was entered in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen, and in later years temples were erected to his memory in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou and other places.

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