A bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, gong, Late Shang dynasty | 商末　青銅龍首獸面紋觥

Koestukai, Kyoto, 2017.

The gong ranked among the most prestigious ritual bronze vessels of the Shang dynasty, with tombs typically containing just one example. During the late Shang period, the Anyang workshops produced bronze vessels of exceptional quality, often featuring dramatic high-relief decoration.

Compare a highly related example in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, excavated from a Shang site in Lingshi County, and illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [The Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes], Beijing, 1998, vol. 4, pls. 80-81; and another close example in the National Museum of Asian Art Freer Gallery, illustrated in A Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue of Chinese Bronzes Acquired During the Administration of John Ellerton Lodge, Washington, 1946, cat. no. 7. Compare also a related vessel with low-relief design rather than high-relief, in the Shanghai Museum, see Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi yanjiu [Study of archaic bronzes from Shang, Shang and Zhou dynasties], Shanghai, vol. 2 of Xia and Shang, 2004, no. 166; and a gong from the collection of T.Y. Chao, sold in these rooms, 8th April 2023, lot 3604.

展覽

《光悦会 金沢席》，京都，2017年

器圓扁，蓋身前飾龍後飾鴞，龍口露齒森然，龍角凸起，背部出戟直抵尾部鴞首，鴞耳冠及喙凸起高揚，龍及鴞眉目皆做高浮雕，再填雷紋。觥流及口沿呈舒緩S形，流口之下及身兩側出戟，以出戟為對稱外壁飾高浮雕獸面紋，平地填雷紋，後壁鑄鋬，鋬飾龍首，雙角呈扇形，其下再疊壓鴞首，高圈足，足圈亦出戟，飾對稱鳳鳥紋，此觥整體滿工，紋飾層次豐富，深峻立體。X光可見器底有一氏族銘文。

觥在商代為重要酒器，一墓一般只出一件。商晚期安陽地區及周邊出土之高品級銅器，紋飾多高浮雕。如太原山西省博物館藏一例，出土於山西省靈石縣晉中市商代遺址，載於《中國青銅器全集》，卷4，北京，1998年，圖版80、81；又可比較美國弗瑞爾·賽克勒美術館藏一件非常將近之商晚期青銅觥，著錄於《A Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue of Chinese Bronzes Acquired During the Administration of John Ellerton Lodge》，華盛頓，1946年，圖版7。此類紋飾又見平雕之例，可參考上海博物館藏一件商代晚期青銅觥，紋飾、體量與本件頗似，惟紋飾為平面，見陳佩芬，《夏商周青銅器研究·夏商下》，上海，2004年，編號166；香港蘇富比售出一件趙氏山海樓藏青銅觥亦資參考，2023年4月8日，編號3604。