A gilt-bronze vessel, hu, Western Han dynasty | 西漢　銅鎏金鋪首耳弦紋壺

A Japanese private collection.

Kochukyo Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

5th Anniversary Exhibition. All-Stars of the Okada Collection: Masterworks of Korin, Jakuchu, Hokusai and the Ru Ware Kilns, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2018-19, exh. no. 16 (unillustrated).

This vessel, also known as a "zhong," was used for storing wine and was typically produced either without any decoration or entirely gilded during the Warring States to Western Han periods. The present lot of such large size is particularly rare.

Compare a fully gilt example unearthed from the tomb of the King of Nanyue in Guangzhou, Western Han dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese bronze vessels], Beijing, 2019, vol. 19, no. 239, which shares a similar form. Compare also a gilt-bronze hu in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Gugong qingtong tudian/Illustrated Catalogue of Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2010, no. 207; and another example in the Xi'an Museum that includes a phoenix-finial lid, which was exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and illustrated in Sun Zhixin, Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C.–A.D. 200), Beijing, 2020, no. 67.

來源

日本私人收藏

壺中居，東京

展覽

《開館5周年記念展―美のスターたち―光琳．若冲．北斎．汝窯など名品勢ぞろい》， 岡田美術館，箱根，2018-19年，展覽編號16（沒載圖）

此類壺也稱為「鐘」，為盛酒器，戰國至西漢常見素器或通體鎏金者，如此件體量巨大之例頗罕。可參考廣州西漢越王墓出土一件通體鎏金之例，制式頗與之同，見《中國出土青銅器全集》，卷19，北京，2019年，編號239；又可比較北京故宮藏一件銅鎏金壺，見《故宮青銅圖典》，北京，2010年，編號207；西安博物院藏一例亦資參考，帶蓋，蓋上立鳳鳥，借展於美國大都會博物館，著錄於孫志新編，《秦漢文明—歷史、藝術與物質文化》，北京，2020年，編號67。