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国内拍卖首页 > Galerie Zacke > 亚洲艺术集珍 - 第一天 > Lot 0110
THE UNIQUE 'IAN FINER' 13-TARGET ARROW VASE, TOUHU, MING DYNASTY
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04月16日 下午5点 开拍 /14天1小时
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Expert's note: The present Touhu is distinguished by an exceptionally complex configuration of no less than 13 individual targets (see list below), far exceeding the requirements of ordinary play. The apertures are carefully distributed around the neck and lower body, demanding throws of varying distance, angle, and precision. Such a design presupposes a highly advanced level of skill and control and would have been impractical for casual use. Instead, it points to a competitive context in which complete mastery of the game was a prerequisite, effectively reserving the use of this Touhu for the most accomplished players only.A well-known painting shows the Xuande Emperor (fig.1) personally engaged in the game. Although any direct association of the present vessel and Emperor Xuande himself remains purely speculative, its exceptional complexity is fully consistent with the courtly milieu in which such highly demanding forms of play were cultivated.China, 1368-1644. Heavily cast and well detailed with intricate incision work, the base of circular section with a spreading foot, rising to a cylindrical tall neck with two attached tubular sections at the top on the sides, each neatly decorated with diapered designs.Finely decorated in high relief with two clambering chilong and two foreign envoys presenting a section of coral and an elephant tusk, the latter standing atop craggy rockwork emerging from the compressed body and flanked by two attendants holding a large ring and a two-lobed implement, each lobe inscribed with a character reading 'tai' and 'xia', respectively, the body encircled by four further servants carrying buckets of square and circular form, divided by wing-shaped flanges and set against rockwork.Provenance: From the Finer Collection. The base with two paper labels from the Finer Collection, each inscribed with the inventory number 'CB 60'. Ian Finer is a London-based Chartered Accountant whose professional work advising clients in the antiques trade fostered a deep personal engagement with Asian art. Over several decades he assembled a highly regarded private collection of Chinese bronzes and porcelains. At its core were refined works, notably by the famed metalworker Hu Wenming and other scholars' studio pieces. Finer's collection, which he carefully curated from important auction houses, collectors, and dealers, was recognized for its museum-quality breadth and scholarly focus. Condition: Good condition with minor wear and casting irregularities, tiny losses, few minuscule nicks and minute dents. Old soldering marks and minor repairs, consistent with this group of bronze wares. The bronze with a rich, naturally grown, dark patina with few malachite encrustations to the interior.Weight: 9.1 kg Dimensions: Height 47 cmThe targets comprise (top to bottom):- Three cylindrical tubes.- Two dragons clambering on the neck.- Two foreign envoys holding a coral branch and elephant's tusk, respectively.- One attendant holding a large two-lobed implement; this is perhaps the most difficult to hit, requiring the arrow's fin to get caught between the two lobes.- Another attendant holding a ring.- Two attendants holding a square basket incised with a blossom.- Two attendants holding a cylindrical basket with a sash.Vases of this type are for playing Touhu (literally 'pitch-pot'), an ancient Chinese game in which players threw arrows or sticks into an ornate vessel from a fixed distance. Originating in the Warring States period, likely as a pastime among soldiers or archers, the game evolved from a contest of skill and a drinking diversion into a practice imbued with Confucian moral values, as recorded in the Book of Rites. Players competed by aiming for the vessel's mouth or tubular lugs, with more difficult openings scoring higher points, while the loser was required to drink wine. Initially favored by the elite, Touhu spread widely and remained popular until the end of the Qing dynasty, and Touhu vases continued to be produced from the Song dynasty onward in materials such as bronze, cloisonné, and ceramic.The figural decoration of this Touhu draws on a long-established visual language of foreign tribute bearers, a tradition that crystallized during the Tang dynasty and found its classical formulation in the celebrated but now-lost Tribute Bearers by Yan Liben, known today through a Song dynasty copy preserved in the National Palace Museum. Here, that pictorial legacy is translated into sculptural form, with orderly rows of foreign envoys and attendants around the vessel, their distinctive dress and accoutrements marking them as emissaries from distant regions of the known world. Bearing costly offerings—vessels and precious materials associated with long-distance exchange—they embody not a literal historical procession but an idealized vision of tribute, one that proclaimed the moral and cultural authority of the Chinese court. Integrated into an object associated with elite recreation and ritualized conduct, this imagery resonates powerfully with the Touhu's Confucian associations: just as the game articulated hierarchy, restraint, and cultivated skill, so too the tribute bearers affirmed a worldview in which order radiated outward from the imperial center and returned, symbolically, in the form of homage from afar.Literature comparison:Compare a closely related bronze arrow vase dated to the Kangxi period, collected by the sinologist Berthold Laufer in Xian and now in the Field Museum, Chicago, accession number 1114. Compare a related bronze figural arrow vase with eight target tubes, dated 14th-15th century, 52.5 cm tall, in the British Museum, museum number 1993,1028.1.Auction result comparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 May 2022, lot 34Price: HKD 1,036,200 or approx. EUR 122,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing: A very rare and large bronze 'boys' stupa-shaped arrow vase, touhu, Ming dynastyExpert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and intricately worked figural decoration, with a similarly high number of targets, though slightly fewer than the present lot (eleven counted). Note the larger size (55.3 cm).Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 May 2022, lot 28 Price: HKD 456,600 or approx. EUR 53,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing : A very rare bronze arrow vase, touhu, 14th/15th century Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of casting, and rockwork motifs. Note the smaller size (42.1 cm) and that this arrow vase has much fewer targets than the present lot.

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