Period:Southern Song dynasty Production date:13thC (?)
Materials:bronze
Technique:inlaid
Subjects:animal
Dimensions:Length: 27 centimetres
Description:
Incense-burner (animal-shaped). Made of inlaid bronze.
IMG
![图片[1]-incense-burner BM-1885-1108.1-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Southern Song dynasty/Bronzes/mid_00812455_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-incense-burner BM-1885-1108.1-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Southern Song dynasty/Bronzes/mid_00309743_001.jpg)
Comments:Jones 1990Ming dynasty vessel in the shape of an animal (14th-15th century AD)Several of these carefully inlaid bronze animal vessels survive, and it seems probable that they were made as fakes to satisfy the demand for antiquities in the Ming period. They are all based upon an illustration in the Song dynasty catalogue, the ‘Bo Gu Tu Lu’, published in AD 1107-11 and reprinted many times in succeeding centuries. Although the woodblock illustration was revised in succeeding editions, all examples show a creature with hooves, a long head with rounded snout and scalloped ears, as seen in the present example. This animal form had an ancient pedigree, being employed as early as the fifth century for animals used as supports for vessels and braziers. Four such creatures support a brazier found at Shanxi Lucheng (Wenwu 1986. 6, pp. 1-19, pl. 2:1). These creatures were decorated with cast rather than inlaid designs. The illustration in the ‘Bo Gu Tu Lu’ shows, however, an inlaid example similar to a rare inlaid animal vessel of the fourth to third century BC found at Shandong Linzi. The fact that the later bronze animals were generally embellished with inlay and not with cast decoration suggests that only a few genuine examples were in circulation and that the example in the ‘Bo Gu Tu Lu’ was being deliberately copied, probably with intent to deceive.
Materials:bronze
Technique:inlaid
Subjects:animal
Dimensions:Length: 27 centimetres
Description:
Incense-burner (animal-shaped). Made of inlaid bronze.
IMG
Comments:Jones 1990Ming dynasty vessel in the shape of an animal (14th-15th century AD)Several of these carefully inlaid bronze animal vessels survive, and it seems probable that they were made as fakes to satisfy the demand for antiquities in the Ming period. They are all based upon an illustration in the Song dynasty catalogue, the ‘Bo Gu Tu Lu’, published in AD 1107-11 and reprinted many times in succeeding centuries. Although the woodblock illustration was revised in succeeding editions, all examples show a creature with hooves, a long head with rounded snout and scalloped ears, as seen in the present example. This animal form had an ancient pedigree, being employed as early as the fifth century for animals used as supports for vessels and braziers. Four such creatures support a brazier found at Shanxi Lucheng (Wenwu 1986. 6, pp. 1-19, pl. 2:1). These creatures were decorated with cast rather than inlaid designs. The illustration in the ‘Bo Gu Tu Lu’ shows, however, an inlaid example similar to a rare inlaid animal vessel of the fourth to third century BC found at Shandong Linzi. The fact that the later bronze animals were generally embellished with inlay and not with cast decoration suggests that only a few genuine examples were in circulation and that the example in the ‘Bo Gu Tu Lu’ was being deliberately copied, probably with intent to deceive.
© Copyright
The copyright of the article belongs to the author, please keep the original link for reprinting.
THE END
