A RARE AND SIGNED GILT-SPLASHED ARCHAISTIC WINE VESSEL, JUE, LATE MING TO EARLY QING DYNASTY China, 17^th-18^th century. Superbly cast, with a characteristic pair of short posts on the mouth rim dividing the elongated pouring mouth and an exaggerated lip, decorated around the exterior of the cylindrical receptacle with taotie-masks against leiwen-ground and divided by vertical flanges, one side with a loop-handle emerging from an animal-head, all raised on three long tapered legs, decorated overall with characteristic gilt splashes. The base carved with a six-character seal script mark.

Inscriptions: To base, 'Boshen zuo Baoyi' (Boshen made this precious yi).

Provenance: The Property of a Gentleman. Christie's Hong Kong, 30 April 2001, lot 771. The Collection of Hedda and Lutz Franz, Hong Kong, acquired from the above. The silk box with an old label from the Christie's sale. Hedda and Lutz Franz, who met in Hong Kong in 1979, have spent over forty years assembling a spectacular collection of Chinese art, at first focusing on snuff bottles and eventually branching out into scholar's objects and paintings, as well as Japanese inro and Kilim carpets. The couple has worked closely together with their friend and advisor, Hugh Moss, and have published five books on their collection, entitled Franz Art, with one book, Franz Art Jade, winning a Silver award at the 2011 Gold Ink Awards in Chicago.
Condition: Excellent condition with minor old wear and casting irregularities, few minuscule nicks, occasional light scratches. Fine natural patina overall.

Weight: 948.7 g
Dimensions: Height 21.5 cm

With a fine velvet-padded silk storage box. (2)

The base is inscribed in archaic script with Boshen zuo Baoyi, 'Boshen made this precious yi'. Yi may be translated as a cup or libation vessel. It is interesting to note that not only the form and decoration were copied in reverence to archaism, but the inscription had been taken directly from characters inscribed on late Shang/early Zhou dynasty vessels. The name Boshen appears to be unrecorded.

Bronze vessels of this type were valued by the literati class in China for their reverence to archaism, and those bearing an epigraphic inscription were considered even more precious. Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss in Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, page 184, quote Ulrich Hausmann saying, “Archaic bronzes and their inscriptions, the subject of centuries of epigraphic and stylistic studies by literary men and artists, became inseparable; so much so that since that time scholars writing characters have seen at the back of their minds the image of ancient bronze vessels whose rubbings they had carefully studied. ...what could be more fitting than to embellish one's studio with subtle allusions to the magnificent past, or to furnish the ancestral altar with vessels expressing the continuation of their inheritance.”

Literature comparison:
Compare a near identical gold-splashed censer, bearing the same five-character archaic inscription, illustrated by Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 161. A further gold-splashed jue is illustrated in Egan Mews, 'Gold-splashed Bronzes in the collection of Mr. Randolph Berens', Connoisseur, November, 1915, p. 144, and a pair, bearing the same inscription as the present example, was included in the exhibition The Minor Arts of China, Spink & Son, London, 1987, cat. no. 77.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Near identical
Auction: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 139
Price: HKD 524,000 or approx. EUR 85,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-splashed bronze censer, jue, signed Boshen, Qing dynasty, 18^th century
Expert remark: Note that this jue bears the same mark as the present lot and is of similar size (21 cm). This jue is also the one illustrated by Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 161

Auction result comparison:
Type: Near identical
Auction: Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3591
Price: HKD 600,000 or approx. EUR 94,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare gilt-splashed archaistic wine vessel, jue, late Ming dynasty, 17^th century
Expert remark: Note that this jue bears the same mark as the present lot and is of similar size (22 cm).



明末清初罕見灑金饕餮紋銅爵
中國，十七至十八世紀。灑金地，爵杯仿先秦禮器爵所製，作圜底杯式，流部扁寬，角略長而尖，流角相對，處於同一高度；口沿設一對扁柱狀帽頭，腹中部弦紋圍成的帶狀開光內，以雲雷紋為地，飾饕餮紋，器物雄渾莊重。底承三棱狀足，踞地沉穩。整器包漿均潤厚潤。

款識：伯申作寳彜
來源：紳士舊藏；香港佳士得2001年4月30日lot 771；香港Hedda 與 Lutz Franz收藏，購於上述拍賣。絲盒上有佳士得拍賣的舊標籤。Hedda 與Lutz Franz，1979年在香港相識，歷經四十多年收集了一系列中國藝術品，起初專注於鼻煙壺，最終擴展到文人用品和繪畫，以及日本印籠和克林姆地毯。這對夫婦與他們的朋友和顧問 Hugh Moss 密切合作，並出版了五本名為 Franz Art 的書，其中一本書 Franz Art Jade 在 2011年 年芝加哥金墨獎中獲得銀獎。
品相：狀況良好，有輕微的磨損和鑄件不規則，少量微小刻痕，局部有輕微的劃痕。整體精美的天然包漿。

重量：948.7 克
尺寸：高21.5 厘米

精美的有内襯的盒子。

銅爵底部有“伯申作寳彜”款。彜為杯子或祭杯。有趣的是，不僅此銅爵的形式和飾紋是仿古而製，連銘文也直接取自商代晚期/周初器皿上的款。“伯申”這個名字似乎沒有記載。

此類銅器因崇尚古風而受到中國文人的珍視，而銘文則更為珍貴。Gerard Tsang 與 Hugh Moss 在Arts from the Scholar's Studio（香港，1986年，第184頁）書中 引用 Ulrich Hausmann 的話：“Archaic bronzes and their inscriptions，the subject of centuries of epigraphic and stylistic studies by literary men and artists，became inseparable; so much so that since that time scholars writing characters have seen at the back of their minds the image of ancient bronze vessels whose rubbings they had carefully studied. ...what could be more fitting than to embellish one's studio with subtle allusions to the magnificent past，（。。。自那時起，文人看到了他們曾仔細研究過其拓片的古代青銅器的樣子。 ......有什麼比用這些反映了輝煌過去的器皿來裝飾自己的工作室，或者用他們來裝飾祖先的祭壇更合適的了。”

文獻比較：
比較一件幾乎相同的五字款識灑金香爐，見Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss，《文玩萃珍》，香港大學馮平山博物館，香港，1986年，編號161。另一件灑金爵，見Egan Mews，〈Gold-splashed Bronzes in the collection of Mr. Randolph Berens〉，《Connoisseur》，11月，1915年，頁144，以及一對與現拍品有相同款識的爵，見《The Minor Arts of China 》，Spink & Son，倫敦，1987年，圖錄編號77。

拍賣結果比較：
形制：幾乎相同
拍賣：香港蘇富比，2012年4月4日，lot 139
價格：HKD 524,000（相當於今日EUR 85,500）
描述：清十八世紀灑金銅饕餮紋爵 《伯申作寶彝》銘
專家評論：請注意此爵與現拍品有相同款識和相似尺寸(21 厘米)。此爵也出版於 Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss，《文玩萃珍》，香港大學馮平山博物館，香港，1986年，編號161。

拍賣結果比較：
形制：幾乎相同
拍賣：香港佳士得，2013年11月27日，lot 3591
價格：HKD 600,000（相當於今日EUR 94,000）
描述：明末十七世紀灑金銅饕餮紋爵
專家評論：請注意此爵與現拍品有相同款識和相似尺寸 (22 厘米)。