A VERY RARE BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHU 12th-13th centuryA VERY RARE BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHU12th-13th century The compressed globular body cast with three mythical beast-masks each suspending a loose ring handle, alternating with finely cast mythical beast masks all reserved on a leiwen ground, the shoulders cast in relief with a band of lotus petals and a beaded border of the Eight Trigrams encircled by a classic-scroll, surmounted by tall neck divided into four main sections by bands and flanked by a pair of high-relief chilong clambering upwards, the mid-section decorated with archaistic kui dragons between various diaper grounds, the top section with a taotie mask on each side, flanked by a pair of lug handles cast with diaper-patterns below a classic-scroll, all raised on a spreading foot cast with a border of crashing waves. 40.4cm (15 7/8in) high, 5.3kg.十二至十三世紀 銅螭龍錦地三鋪首投壺Provenance:The Brian Harkins Collection來源：布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏The archaistic kui dragon scrolls and the diaper ground of the present lot are typical designs from the Southern Song to Yuan dynasty under the influence of archaism. Compare a related silver censer, Southern Song dynasty, with similar pattern unearthed in Yiwu, Zhejiang, which is illustrated by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in the Zhongxing Jisheng: Nansong Fengwu Guanzhi (Achievements of Southern Song Dynasty Material Art), Beijing, 2015, p.175. See also closely related archaistic 'dragon' scrolls on two vases, 12th-14th century, as well as the related wave design on a bronze vase, dated by inscription to 1173, all in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by R.Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pp.47 and 58, nos.35, 36 and 46.壺口方唇，兩側鑄貫耳，頸部紋飾分三層，上層飾仿古蟠夔紋，中層飾回紋錦地，下層飾菱花錦地，頸部上段鑄二螭龍分攀兩面，肩部內圈飾高浮雕仰蓮紋一圈，中間飾八卦紋並連珠紋一周，外圈飾卷草紋，圓鼓腹鑄三獨角獸首銜環，其間飾饕餮紋，下腹飾高浮雕仰蓮紋，束腰，圈足外撇，足壁飾雲水紋一周。此壺仿古蟠夔紋及菱花錦地為南宋至元代典型紋飾。此壺蟠夔紋可比較浙江義烏出土一件南宋銀樽式爐之紋飾，見浙江省博物館編，《中興紀勝: 南宋風物觀止》，北京，2015年，頁175。