Beschreibung:

A VERY RARE AND LARGE PARCEL-GILT BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHUMing Dynasty Expertly cast and partially gilt, the globular body with four panels separated by flanges depicting mythical beasts including a powerful dragon over crashing waves and a Buddhist lion playing with a brocade ball, all below a band of scrolling lotus on the shoulder, the splayed foot similarly decorated with meandering lotus scroll, the tall slender neck decorated with archaistic T-shaped pattern and a coiling sinuous chilong on a diaper-pattern ground, all beneath two lug handles cast with taotie masks on a leiwen ground. 50cm (19 3/4in) high, 7.5kg.Footnotes明 銅局部鎏金麒麟雙獅紋投壺 Provenance: A. Allen, Ayr, 28 November 1983 The Brian Harkins Collection Published and Illustrated: Eveleigh and Harkins, Later Chinese Bronzes: A Special Exhibition of 14th to 18th Century Examples, Hong Kong, May 16th-19th 1984, no. 25 Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, pp.268-269, no.264 來源： 1983年11月28日購於蘇格蘭艾爾A. Allen 布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏 出版及著錄： Eveleigh and Harkins，《Later Chinese Bronzes: A Special Exhibition of 14th to 18th Century Examples》，香港，1984年5月16-19日，編號25 香港東方陶瓷協會，《文玩萃珍》，香港，1986年，頁268-269，編號264 The present vase displays superb craftsmanship not only in the jewel-like varied decorative registers and sinuous chilong, but particularly in the very fine decoration on the body, from the continuous lotus scroll to the mythical beasts. The motifs used in the present vase resemble those from the Chenghua and Zhengde periods in the Ming dynasty, but hark back to depictions of mythical beasts during the Yuan dynasty, as can be seen in a stone relief, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon, London, 1984, p.101, fig.82. Leaping mythical sea creatures on a ground of turbulent waves were a popular motif widely seen on Chenghua period porcelains. The composition of the beasts and waves and the form of the ruyi cloud on the present vase can be compared to a Chenghua doucai 'sea creature' jar excavated at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, illustrated in Yuan's and Ming's Imperial Porcelains Unearthed from Jingdezhen, Beijing, 1999, p.304, no.323. Compare also a blue and white 'Buddhist emblems on lotus' dish with the lotus petals on the shoulder, late Chenghua, unearthed at Jingdezhen, illustrated in A Legacy of Chenghua - Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua Reign Excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1993, no.C70. See also a Zhengde blue and white Arabic-inscribed bowl with a ruyi branch on the foot, which is illustrated in Ming Dynasty Ceramics, Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections, Shanghai, 2007, p.234, fig.4-5. 壺方唇，雙貫耳，壺口及貫耳鏨刻饕餮紋，以雷紋為地，頸部分兩層，上層鏨刻菱花紋錦地，下層鏨刻拐子紋錦地，中間以弦紋一周隔開，頸部鑄螭龍紋一條盤亙其上，螭龍獨角，頭羽後伏，身形扭曲矯健，尾分兩叉，每叉再分而卷之，球形壺身，肩部鏨刻纏枝番蓮紋一周，壺身出戟，兩戟之間鏨刻趕水海獸及戲球獅子各兩組，束腰，圈足外撇，足壁鏨刻連枝如意紋一周，鏨刻處及螭龍皆鎏金。 此壺所飾紋飾多有成化、正德這一時期的風格。成化一朝瓷器常見踏水海獸紋飾，如景德鎮珠山出土一件明成化鬪彩海怪紋天字蓋罐，其海獸形態及踏水組合和本件投壺之海獸頗有相通之處，見《景德鎮出土元明官窯瓷器》，北京，1999年，頁304，編號323，此罐十字如意雲紋亦與本壺相似；此壺肩部之蓮瓣紋亦可參考景德鎮出土一件明代成化晚期之青花番蓮托八寶紋盤，枝葉及蓮瓣皆似，見《成窯遺珍：景德鎮珠山出土成化官窯瓷器》，香港，1993，編號C70；其圈足連枝如意紋則可比較北京故宮藏一件正德青花阿拉伯文碗之如意枝葉紋，見《上海博物館藏品研究大系：明代官窯瓷器》，上海，2007年，頁234，圖4-5。