A RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE TAPIR-SHAPED VESSEL AND COVER, XIZUN Ming/early Qing Dynasty (2)A RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE TAPIR-SHAPED VESSEL AND COVER, XIZUNMing/early Qing DynastyThe stocky, tapir-like mythical beast heavily cast standing foursquare with head raised, ears pricked and tail pointed downwards, the body inlaid in silver and gold with geometric scrolls, the head cast in relief with curved brows and a collar encircling the neck, the hollow body fitted with a cover on its back surmounted by a bird finial, the cover inscribed with an archaistic symbol. 27.8cm (11in) long. (2).Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價明/早清 銅錯金銀犧尊This rare zoomorphic vessel is based on ancient prototypes which originated from at least as early as the Western Zhou dynasty. Tapir-form bronze vessels of this type began to appear in greater numbers in the Eastern Zhou dynasty; compare with a tapir-form vessel, Spring and Autumn or Warring States period, finely inlaid with gold and silver geometric designs, illustrated in Masterworks of Chinese Bronze in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1969, pl.25.The examples from the Bronze Age appear to have found favour with the Northern Song Emperor Huizong (r.1100-1126), who was a very keen antiquarian and who instigated the publication of illustrated catalogues of the items in his collection. One of these, the 'Xuanhe Illustrated Collection of Antiques' (Xuanhe Bogu tulu), included an illustration of such an early bronze vessel. While the original edition would not have been readily available to later craftsmen, it was reprinted on a number of occasions, and the illustration of this zoomorphic vessel appears, for example, in the 1528 edition, known as the Bogu tulu.The name xizun appears in both the Bogu tulu, compiled during the Northern Song dynasty, and the 'Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Xiqing Pavilion', (Xiqing gu jian), compiled in the eighteenth century. The word xi meaning 'sacrificial victim', often refers to an ox or another animal.Vessels shaped as tapirs are often dated to the Yuan and Ming dynasties. See, for example, a related bronze 'tapir' vessel inlaid with gold and silver, Yuan dynasty, from the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis (acc.no.273:1919), illustrated by P.K.Hu, Later Chinese Bronzes: The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert E. Kresko Collections, St. Louis, 2008, p.45, fig.3, and another Ming dynasty example, similarly inlaid in gold and silver, in the collection of the Cernuschi Museum, Paris, acc.no.M.C.583.Compare with a similar gold and silver-inlaid bronze tapir, Song/Ming dynasty, which was sold at Bonhams London, 3 November 2022, lot 117.