A large and rare archaic bronze vessel, Hu


Late Shang DynastyThe pear-shaped body of oval section supported on a spreading foot cast with a band displaying large taotie masks, a further band of taotie masks around the waisted neck, with large rounded eyes on each side, and separated by a narrow band, the sides applied with a pair of rams-head lug handles with long curling horns, with mottled light green patina and areas of malachite encrustation. 41cm (16 1/8in) high.
|The Property of a Gentleman 士紳藏品商晚期 青銅獸面紋壺Provenance: Wui Po Kok Antique Co., Hong Kong, 21 October 2000Gisèle Croës Arts D'Extreme Orient, Brussels, 2014Jean-Yves Ollivier CollectionPublished and Illustrated: G.Croës, Ancient Chinese Treasures. The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, 2010, pp.40-41 來源：香港古董商匯寶閣古美術，2000年10月21日布魯塞爾古董商吉賽爾藝廊，2014年歐宗易先生珍藏出版及著錄：吉賽爾著，《Ancient Chinese Treasures（中國古代珍寶）》，馬斯特里赫特，2010年，頁40-41The present lot was designed to store wine. Its function was recorded in historical texts such as the Shijing (The Classic of Poetry), as well as the Liji (Book of Rites). Originally, this type of vessel would have had a lid which might have been fastened to the body by a string from the lug-handles on the sides. Bronze hu vessels of this type were popular in the Anyang region during the late Shang period and there are many published examples. For bronze hu of similar shape and decoration found in Zhengzhou in Henan, Qingjian in Shaanxi and Gaocheng in Shandong, all dating from the middle to late Shang dynasty, see Hayashi Minao, Conspectus of Yin and Zhou bronzes, Tokyo, 1984, nos.25, 37 and 38. See also another similar hu, late Shang dynasty, illustrated by Wang Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, pp.82-83, no.37. Large bronze hu of similar form continued into the early Western Zhou periods, but by then the bodies were more elaborately ornamented, see Ibid., p.82. Compare with a related bronze hu, late Shang period, and in Anyang style, in a similar shape but with full-body decoration, which was sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 831.壺，屬酒器，原作儲存或盛載酒類之用，其用途於詩經及禮記中皆有所記載。此器呈扁腹橢圓狀，束頸飾以饕餮紋一周，兩側設貫耳一對，原應配有壺蓋，並以繩索穿過壺身兩側之貫耳牽緊壺身，可惜皆已佚失。此器型普遍見於商末安陽時期，當中有數例可資參考。河南鄭州、陝西清澗及山東高城皆曾出土商中葉至末期之類似器具，詳見林己奈夫著，《殷周青銅器總覽》，東京，1984年，圖25、37及38。另外一商末例子，則見於汪濤著，《Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection（玫茵堂藏中國銅器）》，倫敦，2009年，頁82至83，圖37。壺此一青銅形制亦延續至西周初期，但以較繁複的手法裝飾，詳見上者，頁82。另一件商末安陽風格青銅壺，曾於2010年9月16日於紐約佳士得拍賣，拍品831號，整器器身以饕餮紋作飾，但形制相似，可資比對。