CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, EPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)

The shape of this remarkable vessel is based upon a pou ritual bronze vessel of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1100 BC). Robert Bagley, in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1987, p.25, points out that this form is one of the few shapes, introduced after the Erligang phase, that may not be an invention of the bronze casters. According to Bagley, the pou, which has not been found at Erligang sites, but becomes common shortly thereafter, may derive its form from pottery (ibid.). While the earliest bronze pou often include taotie and kui dragons among their decoration, they do not have the relief masks, large bosses and elaborate flanges seen on the current cloisonné example. Later in the development of Shang bronze style can be seen pou with relief masks and flanges, such as the examples illustrated by Bagley from the Tokyo National Museum, two from the Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, one excavated from Hunan Ningxiang Huangcai, and one from the Sumitomo collection in Kyoto (ibid. figs.136, 51.5 and 57.6, 57.4, and 57.5, respectively). The raised shoulder bosses seen on the current cloisonné vessel are not in evidence on any of these ancient bronzes, but a band of bosses can be seen below the level of the relief masks on a bronze pou in the collection of the Nezu Bijutsukan in Tokyo (ibid. fig.57.7).

Ancient bronzes were one of the first things to be collected by the Chinese rulers, and have proved the most enduring items to influence other metalwork and other media in later periods. As early as the reign of the Song Emperor Huizong (1082-1135) the collections of ancient bronzes belonging to the emperor were recorded in illustrated catalogues such as the Xuanhe bogu tu, and provided inspiration for contemporary ceramics and metalwork. The Qing dynasty emperors showed an equal passion for ancient bronzes and for ordering contemporary vessels made in similar style. The Kangxi (1662-1722), Yongzheng (1723-35) and Qianlong (1736-95) emperors in particular were great collectors of antiques and great patrons of the arts. The Qianlong emperor, like his predecessor Huizong, commissioned numerous illustrated catalogues of items in his collection, including the Xi Qing gu jian (Mirror of Antiquities [prepared in] the Xi Qing [hall], which was complied in 1749 and recorded ancient bronzes in the Imperial collection. The emperor also delighted in new pieces made in ancient style - fanggu (copying the ancient), and a considerable number of cloisonné enamels from the Qianlong reign were made in forms and decorated in styles that took their inspiration from ancient bronzes, while the popularity of this approach continued in later periods. The beautifully worked pierced cover for the current vessel does not, however, take its inspiration from antiquity, but is made of numerous ingeniously interlocking ruyi, symbolic of the fact that the owner should have everything as he wishes.

A cloisonné pou vessel of similar height to the current example is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji - Gongyi meishu bian 10 Jin yin boli falang qi, Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing, 1987, p.183, no.331, where it is dated to the Qianlong period). This Beijing vessel has similar bosses to the current example, but lacks the relief masks. It too is decorated with taotie and kui dragons, but in a different style to the current piece. M. Beurdeley illustrates a similar pou in L'Amateur Chinois des Han au XXe siècle, Fribourg, 1996, p.229, no.68, where he dates the piece to the Qianlong reign and postulates that it may have come from the Yuanming yuan.

A slightly larger cloisonné pou with similar bosses, masks and elaborate flanges, also decorated with taotie and kui dragons was sold in our Hong Kong Rooms 29th October 1995, lot 631.