MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Details

AN ARCHAISTIC GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE TRIPOD EWER AND COVER, HE
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
The compressed globular body raised on three supports formed by a bird seated atop a crouching bear, the sides and top of the shoulder encircled by bands of archaistic scrolls inlaid in gold and silver and reserved on a leiwen ground, the spout in the form of a bird head rising from spread wings and surmounted by a crouching rat, and the openwork handle in the form of a mythical beast with arched body and openwork sides created by the entwined bodies of two serpents, the slightly domed cover en suite below a loop handle rising from two taotie masks
9½ in. (24.1 cm.) across

Provenance

Chen Chi Collection, Tokyo.

Lot Essay

The design of this ewer is based on Warring States prototypes, such as the he with very similar openwork handle and spout illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; Diaosu bian; Yuanshi shehui zi Zhangou diaosu, Beijing, 1988, vol. 1, p. 119, no. 149. For two archaistic ewers that are very similar to the present example, see the one illustrated by J. A. Pope, et al., The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Washington DC, 1967, vol. I, pl. 105, and the he sold in these rooms 21 March 2000, lot 165.

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