A VERY RARE BRONZE 'DOUBLE-BOYS' ARROW VASE, TOUHU Song DynastyA VERY RARE BRONZE 'DOUBLE-BOYS' ARROW VASE, TOUHUSong DynastyThe compressed globular body cast with two lizards around the exterior flanked by a pair of S-shaped lion handles suspending loose rings, surmounted by two boys clad in long flowing robes with their hands joined around the tall hexagonal slender neck decorated with bands of stylised lotus beneath two hexagonal tubular handles flanking the mouth, all raised on a stepped foot with four-lobed petal-shaped openwork cartouches. 30.3cm (11 7/8in) high, 3.2kg.宋 青銅六方童子雙貫耳投壺Provenance:The Brian Harkins Collection來源：布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏The high stand with openwork suggests an early style which is closer to those of Five Dynasties or Northern Song dynasty. Compare with a gilt-bronze Buddhist figure with a stand of similar openwork, Five Dynasties, which was excavated under the Leifeng Pagoda, Hangzhou, illustrated by Y.X.Lai in 'Hangzhou Leifengta Wudai Digong Fajue Jianbao'(A Brief Archaeological Report to the Excavation of the Chamber underneath Five Dynasties Leifeng Pagoda), Cultural Relics, May 2002, p.21, fig.28. The chased floral scrolls on the present vase, however, are closer to those seen on Northern Song dynasty wares. Compare with a gilt-silver outer coffin, a gold coffin and a gilt-silver case with similarly incised floral scrolls, Northern Song dynasty, excavated in the Grand Bao'en Temple in Nanjing, illustrated by L.R.Huang, et al., 'Nanjing Da Bao'ensi Yizhi Taji Yu Digong Fajue Jianbao' (A Brief Archaeological Report to the Excavation of the Grand Baoguo Temple's Base and Chamber) in Cultural Relics, May 2015, pp.4-52, figs.22, 26 and 29.壺頸六面，口圓唇，兩側鑄六方貫耳，每邊飾圓珠邊線，中段每面鏨刻四季花卉，下段前後鑄二童子，反手環抱壺頸，童子髡首，肩披飄帶，身穿短裙，壺肩淺浮雕連葉紋，扁鼓腹，左右兩側彎鉤獸耳銜環，前後兩側鑄蜥蜴狀螭龍，圈足六面三層須彌臺式，上層每面穿方孔，中層穿海棠形孔，最下一層穿如意頭型孔，漫發青鏽。此壺整體形態有五代至北宋之氣韻。其鏤空壸門台座常見於五代北宋時期銅質佛像底座，如杭州雷峰塔五代地宮出土之鎏金銅佛，其底座亦分三層，每層鏤空壸門，見黎毓馨撰，《杭州雷峰塔五代地宮發掘簡報》，載於《文物》，2002年5月，頁21，圖28。壺身鏨刻之花草紋亦有典型北宋風格，南京大報恩寺北宋地宮出土數件北宋真宗於大中祥符四年（1011 年）封藏之金銀器，其上所鏨刻之花草紋與本件頗似，可比較出土之鎏金銀槨、金棺、鎏金小銀函所鏨刻之卷葉花草，分別見於黃秝人等撰，《南京大報恩寺遺址塔基與地宮發掘簡報》，載於《文物》，2015年5月，頁4-52，圖22、26及29。其中，鎏金銀槨所飾人物俱肩披飄帶，可與本件童子參詳之。