AN ARCHAISTIC GOLD-AND-SILVER INLAID DUCK-FORM POURING VESSEL, ZUN
AN ARCHAISTIC GOLD-AND-SILVER INLAID DUCK-FORM POURING VESSEL, ZUN

LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY

Details
AN ARCHAISTIC GOLD-AND-SILVER INLAID DUCK-FORM POURING VESSEL, ZUN
LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY
The vessel is well cast in the form of a goose shown standing on webbed feet. Its long curved neck is decorated with two bands of archaistic scroll, beneath the tubular spout. The wings are decorated with scroll design, terminating in V-shaped feathers tapering towards the tips. The raised neck of the vessel is tiered with three bands of floral and archaistic design. The tail feathers are incised with naturalistic markings.
10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm.) high
Provenance
J.T. Tai & Co., sold at Sotheby's New York, 22 March 2011, lot 226

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Ruben Lien
Ruben Lien

Lot Essay

This archaistic vessel is based on archaic bronze prototypes, such as the zun of very similar form with a bail handle, dated 2nd century BC-AD 2nd century, in the Brooklyn Museum, illustrated by C. Deydier, Chinese Bronzes, Paris, 1980, p. 108, no. 79. A slightly earlier bronze vessel of goose or duck form, with a handle terminating in animal heads, was included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935-36, no. 134, pl. 11, and a Warring States example in burnished earthenware, also without a handle, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, 1989 ed., p. 31, fig. 26. Compare, also, the line drawing of a similarly decorated bronze ewer, purported to be of Zhou date, illustrated by C.A.S. Williams, Outline of Chinese Symbolism & Art Motives, 1976, p. 49.

A bronze pouring vessel of similar shape, but dated to the Song dynasty, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is illustrated by R. Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London 1990, p. 17, pl. 4. Another similar vessel was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 08 October 2010, lot 2720.

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