A possibly unique bronze figure of a standing man, Southwest China, Late Shang - Zhou dynasty | 商末至周 中國西南地區青銅人像飾件

Collection of A.W. Bahr (1877-1959), London.

R.H. Ellsworth Ltd, New York, 14th January 1987.

巴爾（1877-1959年）收藏

安思遠，紐約，1987年1月14日

Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst / Chinese Art Exhibition, Berlin, 1929, cat. no. 50.

Jessica Rawson and Emma C. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 77.

《Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst》，柏林，1929年，編號50

羅森及愛瑪．賓格，《青銅聚英：中國古代與鄂爾多斯青銅器》，香港，1990年，編號77

The present figure, with distinctive facial features, is highly unusual and no other examples appear to be recorded. The disproportionally large ears, prominent nose, and broad mouth, however, recall the bronze masks and figures from the Sanxindui culture in Sichuan. A few excavated bronze heads dated to the 13th to 12th century BC are illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, 'A Shang City in Sichuan Province', Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 122-137, figs 5-7, 15-17, together with two small bronze figures with comparable facial features from Rujiazhuang, Baoji, Shaanxi, attributed to c. 10th century BC, figs 33-34. 

Compare also large Western Zhou bronze male and female figures with similar facial features and loosely clasped hands, excavated from Mount Shizhai in Jinning, Yunan, included in The Chinese Bronzes of Yunnan, London, 1983, pls 174-175.

Rawson and Bunker state in Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes that the present figure resembles the small jade carvings from the tomb of Fu Hao; see a jade kneeling figure included in King Wu Ding and Lady Hao. Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2012, cat. no. III-2. However, they find the facial features to be closer to those of a Western Zhou dynasty bronze chariot fitting in the form of a kneeling man ('Luoyang Beiyaocun Xizhou yizhi 1974 niandu fajue jianbao [1974 annual excavation report of the Western Zhou dynasty site of Beiyao Village, Luoyang]', Wenwu / Cultural Relics, 1981, no. 7, pp. 52-64, fig. 7-1). The ears of the Luoyang example are more rounded. A similar chariot axle cap linchpin, also in the form of a kneeling figure, is in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, accession no. S2012.9.617.

此立像輪廓突出，卻未有類例見載，或為孤品。其大耳、巨鼻、寬嘴，卻與四川三星堆出土青銅面具及立像有相類之處，見數例出土青銅頭像，斷代公元前十三至十二世紀，收入羅伯特．貝格利，〈A Shang City in Sichuan Province〉，《Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000》，香港，2001年，頁122-137，圖5-7、15-17，同載陝西寶雞出土的兩件青銅人像，尺寸較小，有信乃製於約公元前十世紀，圖33-34。

雲南晉寧石寨山出土西周男女銅像，五觀和雙手姿態也與此近，見《The Chinese Bronzes of Yunnan》，倫敦，1983年，圖版174-175。

羅森與賓格在著作《青銅聚英》中提出此像臉相，可與婦好墓出土小型玉雕比較，如一玉跪人，收入《商王武丁與后婦好：殷商盛世文化藝術特展》，故宮博物院，台北，2012年，圖版III-2。兩位專家卻續指，此像五觀或與西周跪人形銅車轄更相像，但後者雙耳較圓，圖見〈洛陽北窰村西周遺址1974年度發掘簡報〉，《文物》，1981年，第7期，頁52-64，圖7-1。華盛頓史密森尼學會賽克勒美術館也有一跪人形銅車轄，藏品編號S2012.9.617。