AN ARCHAISTIC SILVER-INLAID BRONZE 'OWL' VESSEL AND COVER Ming DynastyAN ARCHAISTIC SILVER-INLAID BRONZE 'OWL' VESSEL AND COVERMing Dynasty Of archaic guang form, finely silver-inlaid around the exterior with floral roundels and geometric bands, set to one side with a small loop handle and to the other with a channelled spout, the cover in the shape of an owl head with hinged beak and secured to the body with linked bars. 35.5cm (14in) high.明 銅錯銀仿古鴞形提樑壺 Provenance:A private collection formed in the 1950sSotheby's London, 5 November 2008, lot 85來源：私人收藏，蒐集於1950年代倫敦蘇富比，2008年11月5日，拍品編號85During the Ming dynasty, when appreciating and collecting antiques was very much in vogue, archaic bronzes like the present wine vessel were made according to the illustrations in the catalogues published of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty bronzes. The shape of the present hu vessel derives from Eastern Zhou dynasty bird-head bronze ritual hu vessels, compare with an early Warring States period bronze bird-head wine vessel excavated in Shandong, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes], Beijing, 1997, p.28, no.27; compare also with an Eastern Zhou dynasty owl-head ritual hu vessel, previously in the Sakamoto Goró collection, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2014, lot 18.壺蓋作鴞首，雙目凸起乳釘狀，眉羽盤結成螺狀，喙作活頁開口，蓋身錯銀翎羽，頂部鑄兩環，穿帶活環提梁，固定於肩部，肩部錯銀瓔珞，圓鼓腹，腹部錯銀飾變體蕉葉紋向下兩圈，蕉葉內再錯旋火紋，團花及海螺紋，蕉葉紋之間錯變體幾何紋一周，背部鑄一圓環，圈足略微外撇。此壺取樣自東周青銅鳥首提樑壺，可比較一件山東出土之戰國早期鷹首提樑壺，見《中國青銅器全集》，北京，1997年，頁28，編號27；亦可比較坂本五郎藏一件東周早期青銅鴞首提樑壺，見售於紐約蘇富比，2014年3月18日，拍品編號18。明代中晚期鑑賞古物流行，亦出現仿製古物的潮流，此中有經濟利益之驅使，也有文人的推動。明代仿古工匠未必直接取形於三代銅器實物，這一時期出版重刊甚多宋代以來之金石著作，其中的插圖便成為原型參照。