Later Chinese Bronzes from the Dr. Appelbaum Collection
A bronze pear-shaped vase, 17th century
Auction Closed
March 19, 05:41 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
the base cast with a sixteen-character mark reading Da ning chang chen Su Hanchen jian du Jiang shi zhu Zhide tan yong (under the supervision of Officer Su Hanchen at the Da Ning workshop, Madame Jiang cast [this item] for the Zhide Altar)
Height 11⅜ in., 29 cm
Collection of George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923), acquired prior to 1910.
Collection of the Springfield Museum, Massachusetts (accession no. 25.23.138).
Christie's New York, 24th September 2021, lot 907.
Bronze vases of this form, probably created for the display of flowers, proliferated throughout the Song to Ming era, but this example from the late Ming is a particularly striking example, with its gently curved form and elegant long neck. The demand for flower vessels in the late Ming grew, popularized by the scholar elite. The current example adheres to the standards demanded by the late Ming scholar Zhang Deqian, who wrote (circa 1600):
'Copper is preferred to gold and silver to avoid suggestion of opulence and vases with earrings should be avoided, as also a symmetrical arrangement in pairs, to avoid their looking as if on a temple altar' (see translation of ‘Cut Flowers and Vases’ by Lin Yu Tang in The Importance of Understanding, Cleveland, 1960, p. 243).