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拍品專文
During the Han dynasty, pottery models, mingqi, were buried with the deceased to accompany them into the afterlife. Both the wellhead and the steamer basin in this lot would have been made for that purpose.
Wellheads of this type were originally constructed with a roof and often with a pulley for the well rope, which were likely made of less permanent materials that have since deteriorated. The rectangular slits at the corners of this wellhead might have accomodated the insertion of supports for a roof. A similar grey pottery wellhead illustrated by Y. Mino and J. Robinson, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pl. 58, is modeled with very similar scenes. The banner hung from the pole carried by the man is inscribed meihuo, 'extinguish fire', and the characters molded on the two panels read meihuo and dongjing, 'eastern well'. Two other similar wellheads are illustrated: one by Y. Sugimura, Chinese Sculpture, Bronzes, and Jades in Japanese Collections, Honolulu, 1966, pl. 12 (bottom), the other in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, by He Li, Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, p. 72, no. 59.
Wellheads of this type were originally constructed with a roof and often with a pulley for the well rope, which were likely made of less permanent materials that have since deteriorated. The rectangular slits at the corners of this wellhead might have accomodated the insertion of supports for a roof. A similar grey pottery wellhead illustrated by Y. Mino and J. Robinson, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pl. 58, is modeled with very similar scenes. The banner hung from the pole carried by the man is inscribed meihuo, 'extinguish fire', and the characters molded on the two panels read meihuo and dongjing, 'eastern well'. Two other similar wellheads are illustrated: one by Y. Sugimura, Chinese Sculpture, Bronzes, and Jades in Japanese Collections, Honolulu, 1966, pl. 12 (bottom), the other in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, by He Li, Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, p. 72, no. 59.