AN ARCHAIC BRONZE 'TIGER' RITUAL WINE VESSEL, HU Warring States Period (2)AN ARCHAIC BRONZE 'TIGER' RITUAL WINE VESSEL, HUWarring States Period Of pear shape tapering to a flared slender neck with four small loose ring-handle pendants issuing from bird mask loops, elaborately cast with three broad bands of confronted feline beasts featuring curling horns and small panels of scale patterns on their flanks in profile, each biting onto the tail of a twin bodied serpent in its open jaws, the uppermost frieze flanked by a pair of archaistic bird heads with symmetrical wings and raised bosses, issuing rectangular ring handles finely incised with stylized beaked dragons and slanted scroll motifs, further decorated with shield shaped panels filled with pairs of stylised dragons encircling the lower body above the rope-twist ring foot, the doomed cover further surmounted by three rudimentary bird heads loops against a background of dragon scroll bands filled with leiwen, the surface with an irregular mottled patina of dark green and reddish brown, box. 44.8cm (17 3/4in) high. (2).戰國 青銅虎噬蛇紋鋪首銜環圓壺Provenance:J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, New York A Southeast Asian private collection, acquired from the above in 1990sBonhams Hong Kong, 24 November 2012, lot 603An Asian private collection Published and illustrated:J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, Archaic Chinese Bronze, Jades and Works of Art, New York, 1994, no.55Exhibited:J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, Archaic Chinese Bronze, Jades and Works of Art, New York, 1– 25 June 1994來源:紐約藍理捷藝廊東南亞私人收藏，1990年代購於上者香港邦瀚斯，2012年11月24日，拍品編號603亞洲私人收藏 出版及著錄：藍理捷藝廊，《Archaic Chinese Bronze, Jades and Works of Art》，紐約，1994年，編號55展覽:藍理捷藝廊，「Archaic Chinese Bronze, Jades and Works of Art」，紐約，1994年6月1至25日The rectangular ring handles on the present wine vessel are extremely rare compared with the usual circular ring handles found on bronze hu dated to the Warring States period. See a related bronze 'dragon' hu in the Shanghai Museum collection, dated early Warring States period, which also has four small loose ring-handle pendants issuing from a pushou to hold the cover with strings, illustrated by P.F. Chen in Xiashangzhou qingtongqi yanjiu: Dongzhou, xia (The Study of Archaic Bronzes in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties: VII of Eastern Zhou Dynasty), vol.2, Shanghai, 2004, p.316, pl.567. No exact companion piece appears to have been published with rectangular ring handles, but see a bronze wine vessel in another shape with similar handles, Caihou zhufou, from the late Spring and Autumn period, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (Compendium of Chinese Bronzes), Beijing, 1998, vol.7, p.76, pl.73. See also a 'dragon' hu from the early Warring States period in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, with similar distinctive tiger motif, illustrated in ibid., p.146, pl.141.壺蓋微隆，四角鑄四小型獸面鋪首，蓋頂飾兩匝變體龍紋，壺蓋與壺身子母口，頸微束，四面亦鑄四鋪首銜環，溜肩，肩部兩側鑄兩面頗為立體之鋪首銜環，鋪首嘴部呈鷹嘴，環呈長方形，環身飾變體幾何龍紋，肩部至胸腹部飾六道弦紋，每兩匝弦紋之間填以虎噬蛇紋一周，虎紋兩兩相對成一組，下腹部一匝弦紋之下飾蕉葉紋，其內填龍紋，圈足外鼓，上飾幾何卷雲紋一周。 此壺為盛酒器，壺蓋與頸部鋪首可繫繩加以固定，而肩部方形鋪首尤為少見。上海博物館藏一件戰國早期龍紋壺頸部亦有四個小型鋪首銜環，雖蓋已佚，推測其蓋應如本件亦有四個鋪首銜環以綁定蓋與壺身，見陳佩芬著，《夏商周青銅器研究：東周篇》，上海，2004年，下卷，頁316，編號567。目前似乎尚未可見圓壺鋪首銜環為方環之例，或參考一件春秋晚期蔡侯朱缶所飾方環提手，見《中國青銅器全集》，北京，1998年，卷7，頁76，圖73。此壺弦紋之間所飾虎紋可比較舊金山亞洲藝術博物館藏一件戰國早期嵌龍紋壺，見前書，頁146，編號141。