A LARGE BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHU Ming DynastyA LARGE BRONZE ARROW VASE, TOUHUMing DynastyThe pear-shaped body cast with taotie masks reserved against a leiwen ground, raised on a tall spreading foot decorated with a band of archaistic dragons on a leiwen ground, the tall slender neck cast in high relief with a pair of sinuous chilong with their legs grasping the vase forming slim handles on incised pendent blades, the top flanked with two lug handles and similarly decorated with taotie masks. 54.5cm (21 1/2in) high, 11.6kg.明 螭龍饕餮紋大投壺Provenance:The Brian Harkins Collection來源：布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏The overall style of the present vase with crisply cast motifs can be compared to a group of bronze ritual vessels, Ming dynasty, with related taotie masks, see X.Y.Yang, Qufu kongmiao jiucun mingdai tongqi yanjiu (A Research of the Bronze Ritual Vessels of the Ming Dynasty in the Confucius Temple at Qufu), in the Zhongyuan Wenwu(Cultural Relics of Central China), June 2016, p.141, figs.7-1, 7-2 and 7-3.壺口方唇，兩側鑄貫耳，貫耳飾回紋地，壺口前後飾饕餮紋，以回紋為地，壺頸與壺身一體鑄造，上斂下展，頸身飾四片蕉葉紋，以回紋為地，前後兩側攀附兩隻螭龍，螭龍昂首，身形細長，躬身成鋬，尾分兩開，溜肩，鼓腹，腹部飾饕餮紋四面，以回紋為地，束腰，上飾四對細小螭龍紋，回紋地。此壺體量巨大，紋飾規整，其整體風格與山東孔廟藏一組明代青銅禮器頗似，其饕餮紋面部扁平，與回紋地相平，回文鑄造極為工整，銅色亦相近，見楊孝瑜撰，《曲阜孔廟舊存明代銅禮器研究》，載於《中原文物》，2021年6月，頁141，圖七-1、2、3。