成交價:歐元 302,400(235萬人民幣)
估價:歐元 100,000 – 歐元 150,000
寫在拍賣前:
這件偉大的熊鎮不太可能是中國大陸藏家購買,因為大部分從事金融的中國大陸投資者,在經濟環境備受挑戰的當下已經無法不迷信,他們紛紛不買熊,但是諷刺的是,他們也不買牛⋯我們認為,最受傷的不是熊,而是牛,因為他備受愛戴,但卻也無人問津。
歸根到底,中國大陸買家根本上對雕塑的審美嚴重滯後。大部分藏家是在買盤子、買碗碟的環境下被訓練起來的,他們並不熟悉雕塑的價值。這樣的作品出現在法國非常正常,法國是一個喜歡雕塑的國家⋯ 假如讓法國說出一個代表自己的雕塑家,羅丹就可以站出來為法國人發聲,但假如讓中國人說出一個代表自己的雕塑家,目前不知道共識最高的是誰,這就是一個問題。
言歸正傳,撇開錢財的崇拜,熊是漢代的核心雕塑,有漢以來,熊就是非常重要的祥瑞之物,是炎黃子孫血脈中的動物,不知有漢,無論魏晉,不知魏晉,無論唐宋,不知唐宋,無論明清,不知明清,那就沒轍了。
寫在拍賣後:
恭喜買家,這件無論如何都是大開門的器物,沒有任何爭議,能依然在股票不好的情況買下這件神品,勇氣可嘉,真愛致勝,祝賀!
上手圖:
Pre-sale Notes: It is unlikely that this great Bear weight was purchased by a Mainland Chinese collector, as most Mainland Chinese investors in the financial sector, who are no longer able to say no to superstitious in a challenging economic environment, do not buy bears, and ironically, they do not buy bulls either. In our opinion, it is not the bear that is hurt the most, but rather, it is the bull, who is loved, but also unloved.
At the end of the day, mainland Chinese buyers are fundamentally lagging behind in their aesthetics of sculpture. Most collectors have been trained to buy plates and dishes and are not familiar with the value of sculpture. It's perfectly normal for such works to appear in France, a country that loves sculpture. If France were to name a sculptor to represent itself, Rodin would be able to stand up and speak for the French, but if the Chinese were to name a sculptor to represent themselves, it's not clear who would have the highest level of consensus at this point in time, and that's a problem.
Returning to the main topic, leaving aside the worship of money, the bear is the core sculpture of the Han Dynasty, it is traditiaonlly and culturally important from ancient times, which is in turn, super ironic.
漢 鎏金銅熊形席鎮
Hauteur : 8 cm. (3 1/8 in.)
來源
美國華盛頓參議員Hugh Scott舊藏
1981年11月購自古董商戴克成,巴黎
出版
Eskenazi Ltd., Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Gilt Bronzes from the Wessen and Other Collections, exh. cat., London, 1980, cat. no. 22.
Oriental Bronzes Ltd., Chinese Gold, Silver and Gilt Bronze up to the Tang Dynasty, exh. cat., London, 1985, cat. no. 12, pp. 24-25.
展覽
London, Eskenazi Ltd., Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Gilt Bronzes from the Wessen and Other Collections, 11 July – 25 July 1980.
London, Oriental Bronzes Ltd. / Christian Deydier, Chinese Gold, Silver and Gilt Bronze up to the Tang Dynasty, 10 – 11 December 1985.
A RARE GILT-BRONZE WEIGHT DEPICTING A SEATED BEAR
CHINA, HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-220 A.D.)
這件鎏金青銅雕塑雖小,卻格外引人注目,表現的是一隻豐滿的熊,它匍匐坐在地上,正在抓撓右耳後的一塊地方,舌頭從嘴裡微微伸出,一副悠閒自得的樣子。這只熊與世無爭,似乎在享受這一刻,完全沒有漢代大多數熊、老虎和其他野獸典型的凶猛之氣,是一件非常罕見、非常自然的雕塑。
自古以來,熊一直是中國流行的圖騰標誌。中國的建國神話認為,傳說中的黃帝(即黃帝)早期與他的部落生活在西北部,大概是在今天的山西省,但後來遷移到了涿鹿(在今天的河北省),在那裡他成為了一名農民,並馴服了六種不同的凶猛野獸,其中包括熊,從此黃帝就與熊聯繫在了一起。據傳說,貢(據說是黃帝的曾孫,大禹的父親)用一種特殊的土壤築堤,試圖控制黃河不斷發生的毀滅性洪水,但他失敗了。貢的屍體變成了一隻黃熊,跳進了一個池子里;幾年後,一隻金熊--也有人說是一條金龍--從屍體的肚子里鑽了出來,升到了天上,黃帝囑咐它完成父親的工作,治理好黃河的水。這只熊就是大禹,民間傳說中,大禹治水的英雄事跡成為中國夏朝的神話先祖。因此,儘管熊的確切象徵意義從未得到明確表述,但它自古以來就與傳說中的統治者和建國神話緊密相連。從漢朝(公元前 206 年-公元 220 年)開始,甚至可能更早,熊就與軍事才能、薩滿教和長生不老聯繫在一起。由此推論,"熊 "和 "陽剛 "是同音字,不僅在現代漢語中讀作 "xiong",在古代漢語中也是如此。
至少早在商代(約公元前 1600 年至公元前 1050 年),中國藝術品中就有熊的形象,1976 年從河南安陽符好夫人(約公元前 1200 年去世)墓中出土的三件玉熊、哈佛大學藝術博物館格林維爾-L-溫斯洛普收藏的兩件玉熊(1943.50.308 和 1943.50.308)都證明瞭這一點。 中研院的考古學家於 1928 年在安陽西北崗墓 M1001 發掘出了一件罕見的大理石雕像,雕像似乎描繪了一個跪著的人像和一個熊頭(有時也說是貓頭): 商代晚期的藝術與文化》,台灣故宮博物院,2012 年 10 月 19 日至 2013 年 2 月 19 日,第 230-231 頁,編號:RO1757。RO1757。京都住友收藏的青銅禮器 "酉 "酒器可能是最有名的商代熊(也有說是虎)形象的作品,它被鑄成野獸擁抱或吞食人形的形狀。見 R. Bagley,《亞瑟-M-賽克勒收藏的商代青銅禮器》,亞瑟-M-賽克勒基金會,華盛頓特區,亞瑟-M-賽克勒博物館,劍橋,馬薩諸塞州,1987 年,第 123 頁,圖 197。在西漢(公元前 206 年-公元前 8 年)和東漢(公元 25 年-220 年)時期,青銅器和陶瓷器皿通常都裝有熊形的腿。這些青銅時代的代表作通常以正式的、兩側對稱的姿勢表現熊,動物跪著或趴著休息。
我們現在的熊可以與安思遠(Robert Hatfield Ellsworth)收藏的漢代熊進行比較,後者於 2015 年 3 月 15 日在紐約佳士得拍賣行售出,拍價為 1(285.3 萬美元)。我們的熊和埃爾斯沃思的熊態度相同,都是暫時退避三捨,愜意地紓解瘙癢,讓舌頭從嘴裡伸出來,而大多數漢代的熊則是警惕的,甚至是凶猛的,眼睛睜得大大的,以一種刺眼的目光向外看,嘴巴張得大大的,好像在咆哮自衛或準備攻擊對手;它們在與世界互動,隨時準備挑戰任何膽敢靠近的生物。
哈佛大學的 Grenville L. Winthrop 珍藏(1943.50.310)中有一件戰國時期(公元前 475 年-公元前 221 年)的小玉熊,其不對稱的姿勢、不拘小節的舉止和有點異想天開的表現形式,讓我們找到了小熊輕鬆自然、暫時放棄對世界的積極投入而專注於自我陶醉的前身。
在閱讀、學習或與朋友和同事進行戶外交談時,中國古代的君子通常坐在竹條編織的墊子上,展開的墊子的四個角上固定著相配的動物形狀的重物,以防止墊子在微風吹動或君子的姿勢改變時折疊起來。這只熊很可能就是這種重物。有關墊重物的全面討論,請參閱 Michelle C. Wang, et al: 波士頓:伊莎貝拉-斯圖爾特-加德納博物館),2006 年,其中對波士頓伊莎貝拉-斯圖爾特-加德納博物館、克利夫蘭藝術博物館(前布魯塞爾斯托克萊特收藏館)和聖路易斯藝術博物館收藏的其他尺寸較大的熊形重器進行了說明和討論,第 86-93 頁,第 4、5、6 號。
我們現在的這只熊和安思遠的這只熊似乎都是空心鑄造的,然後在上面刻上表示毛皮的波浪線,以及定義眉毛、頸圍、前腿邊緣和短尾的短直線。雕刻和鑿刻完成後,雕塑將被鍍金,可能是採用了所謂的熱鍍金技術,即在表面塗上動力金和水銀的混合物,然後將雕塑加熱到相對較低的溫度,使水銀蒸發,黃金均勻地熔化在青銅表面。最後,在中空的內部填充了部分金屬,可能是鉛,從而增加了小雕塑的重量,使其能夠有效地充當砝碼。
安思遠的熊:
This small but exceptionally compelling gilt-bronze sculpture represents a plump bear seated on its haunches in a moment of relaxation, scratching a spot just behind its right ear with its tongue slightly protruding from its mouth. At peace with itself and with the world, the bear appears to be enjoying the moment and is wholly lacking in the ferocity that typifies most Han-dynasty representations of bears, tigers, and other wild beasts, marking this as an astonishingly rare and very naturalistic sculpture.
The bear has been a popular totemic emblem in China since ancient times. China’s foundation myths hold that the legendary Yellow Emperor, or Huang Di, early on lived with his tribe in the northwest, presumably in modern Shanxi province, but then later migrated to Zhuolu, in present-day Hebei province, where he became a farmer and tamed six different types of ferocious beasts, including the bear, or xiong, with which the Yellow Emperor ever since has been linked. According to legend, Gun—said to have been the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the father of Yu the Great, or Da Yu—stole a special soil with which he planned to build dikes in an attempt to control the Yellow River’s constantly recurring and very devastating floods; he failed in his mission, however, and, as punishment for his theft, he was killed by Zhurong, the God of Fire. Gun’s corpse turned into a yellow bear, or huangxiong, and jumped into a pool; several years later, a golden bear—alternatively said to be a golden dragon—emerged from the corpse’s stomach and ascended into heaven, where the Yellow Emperor instructed it to complete its father’s work in taming the Yellow River’s waters. That bear turned out to be none other than Da Yu, who, according to popular belief, heroically controlled the floods and became the mythological forefather of China’s Xia dynasty. Thus, even if its exact symbolism has never explicitly been stated, the bear has been prominently associated with legendary rulers and national foundation myths since earliest times. From the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) onward, and probably even much earlier, bears have been linked with military prowess, shamanism, and immortality. As a corollary, it might be noted that the words for “bear” and “virility” are exact homonyms, not only in modern Mandarin Chinese, in which both are pronounced xiong, but also in ancient Chinese, a connection that likely speaks for itself in terms of symbolism.
Bears were depicted in Chinese art at least as early as the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC), as evinced by three jade bears excavated in 1976 from the tomb of Lady Fu Hao (died c. 1200 BC), Anyang, Henan province, by two jade bears in the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection at the Harvard Art Museums (1943.50.308 and 1943.50.509), and by a rare marble sculpture seemingly depicting a kneeling human figure with a bear’s head—sometimes said to be a feline head—that archaeologists from the Academia Sinica recovered from Xibeigang Tomb M1001 at Anyang in 1928, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, King Wu Ding and Lady Hao: Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 19 October 2012 - 19 February 2013, pp. 230-231, no. RO1757. Perhaps the most famous Shang-dynasty work representing a bear—alternatively said to be a tiger—however, is the bronze ritual you wine vessel in the Sumitomo Collection, Kyoto, which was cast in the form of a beast either embracing or consuming a human figure. See R. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronze Vessels in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1987 p. 123, fig. 197. In the Western (206 BC–AD 8) and Eastern Han (AD 25–220) periods, both bronze and ceramic vessels often were outfitted with legs in the shape of bears; such vessel legs, generally in sets of three, portray the bears resting on their haunches and supporting the perimeter of the vessel base on their shoulders. Such Bronze Age representations typically present bears in formal, bilaterally symmetrical poses with the animals kneeling or resting on their haunches.
Our present bear can be compared with the Han dynasty bear from the collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, sold at Christie's New York, 15 March 2015, lot 1 (USD 2,853,000). Whereas our bear and the Ellsworth bear share the same attitude, momentarily retreated from the world as it pleasurably relieves an itch and allows its tongue to loll out of its mouth, most Han bears are alert, even ferocious, their eyes wide open and looking outward in a piercing gaze, their mouths agape as if growling defensively or preparing to attack an opponent; they are interacting with the world, ready to challenge any being audacious enough to approach.
Though rare, our bear’s relaxed naturalism and momentary withdrawal from active involvement with the world in favor of self-absorption finds an antecedent in the asymmetrical pose, informal manner, and somewhat whimsical presentation of a small jade bear in Harvard’s Grenville L. Winthrop Collection (1943.50.310) that dates to the Warring States period (475 BC–221 BC).
When reading, studying, or conversing outdoors with friends and colleagues, Chinese gentlemen of ancient times often sat on mats of woven bamboo strips, the four corners of the unfurled mat anchored with matching animal-shaped weights to prevent the mat from folding back on itself if animated by a breeze or a shift in the gentleman’s position. This bear was most probably this type of weight. For a full discussion of mat weights, see Michelle C. Wang, et al. A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of EarlyChina, exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), 2006, where other bear-form weights of larger size in the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum, Boston, the Cleveland Museum of Art (formerly Stoclet Collection, Brussels), and the Saint Louis Art Museum are illustrated and discussed, pp. 86-93, nos. 4, 5, 6.
Our current bear and the Ellsworth one appear to have been hollow cast, after which the wavy lines suggesting fur and the short, straight lines defining the brows, neck ruff, foreleg edges, and short tail were incised. Once the chasing and chiseling had been completed, the sculptures were gilded, presumably employing the so-called heat-gilding technique, in which an amalgam of powered gold and mercury was applied to the surface, after which the sculpture was heated to a relatively low temperature, causing the mercury to evaporate and the gold to be fused evenly over the surface of the bronze. Lastly, the hollow interiors were partly filled with metal, probably lead, thereby adding sufficient weight for the small sculptures to serve effectively as weights.
This June, Art d’Asie presents 240 lots of important porcelain and works of art, including cloisonné enamels, jade, and Buddhist sculptures.
Highlights include a selection of extremely rare porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, from a private European collection, comprising a yellow-ground blue and white ‘pomegranate flower’ dish from the Zhengde reign (1506-1521) and an important Junyao tripod narcissus bowl, Yuan-Ming Dynasty, 14th-15th century. Amongst the highlights, the June sale will also offer a rare and important silver-mounted agate cup stand from a Swedish private collection. All objects in the sale come from private European and French collections. From an important private European collection, we will offer a beautiful selection of early pieces, including an important Han Dynasty gilt-bronze bear. The sale will also comprise a selection of imperial Ming and Qing cloisonné from a London private collection. Also imperial from the Qianlong reign (1736-1795), a rare yuzhi sou miao xian shou shuojade book with a zitan cover comes from a private European collection. The star of our Buddhist section will be an important 13th century Malla period gilt-bronze figure of a seated Buddha previously in a Belgian private collection. The paintings section will present a painting depicting fish by Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and a beautiful seascape by Lin Fengmian (1900-1991).
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6月13日舉行的巴黎佳士得亞洲藝術拍賣會,屆時將呈現245件重要古董拍品。其中包括高古至明清時期的官窯瓷器、掐絲琺琅宮廷器、玉器以及佛教造像等。本場大部分拍品均傳承有序,多數來自法國及歐洲重要私人收藏。特別值得關注的拍品包括一批源自歐洲重要藏家的中高古拍品,如一件形象活潑可愛的漢代鎏金銅熊形席鎮等。此外,一批源自歐洲重要私人珍藏的瓷器收藏也將成為焦點,領銜拍品包含一件明正德黃地青花石榴花紋盤及元明鈞窯藍紫釉鼓釘水仙盆。值得一提的是,本次拍賣還將獻上一件紋飾瑰麗的鑲法國銀邊瑪瑙盞托,同類參考均為館藏,彌足珍貴。此外,來自歐洲私人珍藏的乾隆紫檀殼青玉描金「御製蒐苗獮狩說」玉冊將成為玉器拍品的亮點之一。佛教造像及唐卡部分也是本場拍賣的重點之一,特別是一尊源自比利時私人舊藏的馬拉王朝十三世紀的鎏金銅佛陀坐像。最後,一批來自重要王室珍藏的日本藝術品也將吸引您的目光,其中涉及生動有趣的鐵製昆蟲、漆器、盔甲及頭盔等。
拍賣時間
6月13日 上午10:30 (歐洲中部夏令時間) 拍品 1-106
6月13日 下午02:30 (歐洲中部夏令時間) 拍品 107-246
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