Regina Krahl

The masterfully proportioned and richly decorated jia in the MacLean Collection with its complex, finely detailed taotie design is a classic wine vessel of the first half of the Anyang period. After the Shang had settled in Anyang in Henan around 1300 BC, the bronze craft experienced an unprecedented flowering. The impressive, mature Anyang style is so distinct that it became practically synonymous with China’s archaic bronze art. It was in this period that the jia vessel shape gained its harmonious rounded S-shaped profile.

On the present piece, the waisted finials on the two rectangular posts rising from the rim, are particularly prominent, giving the vessel a majestic presence. Especially noteworthy are also the delicate serrulated flanges centering and separating the taotie motifs, an unusually luxurious treatment of this common bronze feature, which would have required quite a bit of additional attention and effort. It is a playful, dainty element that both emphasizes and breaks up the sharp outline of the vessel by adding a frilly edge, thus offering a delightful marginal annotation to the solemn grandeur of the vessel shape.

Very similar in its basic form and design is the famous Mu Ya jia (fig. 1), which is somewhat larger, but has only plain raised ridges in the center of its masks instead of flanges. That vessel, which was excavated in 1959 in Anyang itself and is preserved in the Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou, features in many publications, and formed part of many of the early archaeological exhibitions sent by the People’s Republic of China to Europe, for example, to London 1973, Paris 1973, Zurich 1980, Berlin and other German cities 1981, and Brussels 1982; see Peng Qingyun, ed., Zhongguo wenwu jinghua da cidian: Qingtong juan [Encyclopaedia of masterpieces of Chinese cultural relics: Bronze volume], Shanghai, 1995, no. 0185; and Helmut Brinker & Roger Goepper, Kunstschätze aus China. 5,000 v. Chr. bis 900 n.Chr.: Neuere Archaeologische Funde aus der Volksrepublik China, Kunsthaus Zurich, 1980, no. 8, where (p. 67) its high quality is remarked upon, and its fine green patina, which appears to be rather similar to that of the present vessel, is described as ‘melon skin’ patina.

Two jia of comparable form and design, but their handles emerging from an animal head, were excavated from sites of the Shang capital, Yinxu at Anyang, both attributed to the site’s second period, roughly equivalent to the second and third quarters of the 13th century BC: one of similar size with similar notched flanges, but lacking the posts on the rim, the other somewhat taller, with plain flanges and with a cover, see Yinxu qingtong qi / Bronze Vessels from Yin Xu, Beijing, 1985, pl. 156 and fig. 54: 2, and col. pl. 61 and fig. 60: 1.

A taller jia, with shallow flanges, was sold in these rooms, 4th November 1978, lot 317; and one with mask handle in the Sumitomo Collection is illustrated in Shuki [Wine vessels], Sen-oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 1994, pl. 8; another jia, also with mask handle and with only a plain ridge bisecting the masks, is in the Sackler Collection, illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1987, no. 5, where the author remarks (p. 159) that the vessel must have had a lid because the rim has 'a thin flat ledge projecting inward'. This feature is not present on the MacLean jia, and covers are altogether extremely rare on jia tripods. At the Qing court (1644-1911), they were therefore displayed with specially commissioned wooden covers with carved jade knops, raised on wooden stands, as seen in the painting One or Two?, depicting the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795) seated among a display of antiques including a bronze jia; see Wang Tao, Mirroring China’s Past. Emperors, Scholars, and Their Bronzes, The Art Institute of Chicago, New Haven and London, 2018, pl. 138.

The complex clan sign inscribed on the present vessel can also be seen on a bronze gu in a private Japanese collection, as illustrated in Noel Barnard & Cheung Kwong-Yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, vol. 9, no. 1806.

The present jia comes with an illustrious provenance. It formed part of the collection of K’ung Ling-chieh/Kong Lingjie 孔令傑 (1921-1996), a 76th-generation descendent of Confucius, son of Dr. K’ung Hsiang-hsi (1881-1967) and Soong Ai-ling (1889-1973). His father was an influential politician who served the Republican Government (1911-1949) in ministerial roles, as Governor of the Central Bank, as Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan, and as Premier. His mother was the eldest of the three Soong sisters, which made him a nephew of President Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) and President Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). He himself was a business man living in Texas, and was married to the actress Debra Paget (born 1933).

康蕊君

本斝比例勻稱，紋飾精美，饕餮紋細緻繁複，屬殷墟青銅之珍器。商朝於公元前1300年左右遷都至殷，此後青銅工藝進入前所未見的繁榮時期。殷墟青銅器風格獨特，發展成熟，成就卓絕，可謂為中國古代青銅藝術之代表。斝的器身亦於此時期發展演變出了優雅的S形線條。

觀本器，整體大氣莊嚴，雄偉不凡。尤其值得一提的是斝身饕餮紋飾中間的扉棱，透空作鉤齒狀，頗具匠心，將饕餮紋飾左右分隔，設計別緻，更耗工費神，十分鮮見。

本斝的器形與紋飾皆與著名的母亞斝（圖一）尤為相似。母亞斝尺寸稍大，饕餮紋中心飾素扉棱，1959年安陽出土，現存於河南省博物館，文獻記載甚廣，曾數次借展歐洲的多個早期考古發現展覽，如1973年於倫敦、1973年於巴黎、1980年於蘇黎世、1981年於柏林及其他德國城市、1982年於布魯塞爾等；參見彭卿雲編，《中國文物精華大辭典：青銅卷》，上海，1995年，編號0185以及 Helmut Brinker 及郭樂知，《Kunstschätze aus China. 5,000 v. Chr. bis 900 n.Chr.: Neuere Archaeologische Funde aus der Volksrepublik China》，蘇黎世美術館，1980年，編號8，其中（頁67）論及該器品質卓絕，綠色包漿細膩猶如瓜皮。

另比兩斝例，器形紋飾均相近，然鋬帶獸首，商都安陽殷墟遺址出土，斷代殷墟二期，大致相當於公元前十三世紀中葉：一例尺寸與本品相近，帶相似鉤齒狀扉棱，惟口沿無柱；另一例較高，連蓋，扉棱無齒，參考《殷墟青銅器》，北京，1985年，圖版 156、圖 54：2及彩色圖版 61和圖60:1。

紐約蘇富比曾拍出一較高作例，售於1978年11月4日，編號 317；一例帶獸面鋬，出自住友收藏，圖見《酒器》，泉屋博古館，京都，1994年，圖版8；另比一賽克勒收藏獸面鋬例，扉棱光素將饕餮紋一分為二，圖載於羅伯特•貝格利，《Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections》，華盛頓，1987 年，編號5，作者認為，該斝或可能曾為連蓋器（頁159）。清代宮廷往往為青銅斝特製木蓋並飾以玉鈕，陳置於木架之上。參考清高宗《是一是二圖》，描繪乾隆帝坐於各式古董陳設之間，其中即包括一件青銅斝（汪濤，《吉金鑒古》，芝加哥藝術學院，紐黑文及倫敦，2018 年，圖版138）。

本器所銘之族徽，亦可見於來自日本私人收藏的一件青銅觚之上，見巴納及張光裕，《中日歐美澳紐所見所拓所摹金文彙編》，台北，1978 年，卷9，編號1806。

本品來源顯赫，出自孔令傑（1921-1996）舊藏。孔令傑，孔子第七十六代孫，為孔祥熙博士（1881-1967）和宋靄齡（1889-1973）之子。其父孔祥熙乃政治風雲人物，曾於國民政府擔任要職，任中央銀行總裁、行政院副院長及院長。其母宋靄齡則是宋家三姐妹的大姐，故孔令傑即為孫中山（1866-1925）和蔣介石（1887-1975）的侄子。孔令傑先生本人從商，居美國德克薩斯州，夫人為影星黛布拉•佩吉特（1933生）。