A RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF A SEATED SCHOLAR AND A GOOSE-FORM CENSER

MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

細節

A RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF A SEATED SCHOLAR AND A GOOSE-FORM CENSER
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
The bald, elderly scholar shown casually seated on rockwork with left arm resting beside a book on an outcropping of rock, his torso with rounded belly exposed by his loosely draped robes, his face finely cast with beard and mustache and wrinkles at the sides of the eyes, the goose standing on the rockwork base beside him hollow cast as a censer, with head raised and mouth open, its separate wings, which form the cover, with some upturned feathers and separations between the longer feathers for the release of vapor and the lifting of the cover, with warm brownish patina
16 in. (40.6 cm.) long, stand

拍品專文

This unusual subject probably relates to the master calligrapher, Wang Xizhi (321-379 A.D.), whose cursive script was said to have been inspired by the graceful sinuous necks of geese, which he observed from a lakeside pavilion.

It is interesting to note that the hand gestures and ease of the figure's body posture share similarities with Buddhist figures cast in bronze.