Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Lot 11*
A gold-and-silver-inlaid bronze pouring vessel, jue Shi Sou mark, late Ming Dynasty
12 May 2016, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £12,500 inc. premium
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A gold-and-silver-inlaid bronze pouring vessel, jue
Shi Sou mark, late Ming Dynasty
The three awl-shaped feet with fine silver wire and gold inlay patterns supporting a globular belly, the body cast with a band of taotie masks highlighted with gold and separated by two vertical flanges, on one side a C-shaped mythical beast-head handle, the graceful spout decorated in silver with a phoenix-head and a key-fret border on the rim, Japanese box. 18.4cm (7 1/4in) high (2).
The three awl-shaped feet with fine silver wire and gold inlay patterns supporting a globular belly, the body cast with a band of taotie masks highlighted with gold and separated by two vertical flanges, on one side a C-shaped mythical beast-head handle, the graceful spout decorated in silver with a phoenix-head and a key-fret border on the rim, Japanese box. 18.4cm (7 1/4in) high (2).
Footnotes
明末 銅錯金銀仿古饕餮紋爵
錯銀「石叟」金文款
Most pieces bearing the name Shi Sou ('Old man Shi') are bronzes inlaid with silver wire, dating to the late Ming period. Rose Kerr argued that 'Shi Sou may well have been the trade mark adopted by entrepreneur(s) who co-ordinated the work of a number of outworkers in the Jiangnan region during the late Ming period, ordering sets of items as trade demanded'. See R.Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p.65. The present lot, with its archaic design, would have perfectly suited the demands of the late Ming literati who yearned for a return to the ancient golden age of the early Zhou dynasty.
A similar silver-inlaid bronze pouring vessel, with Shi Sou mark, but dated a little later to 17th/18th century, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3532.
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