拍賣筆記 vol.405 蘇富比紐約2019：瓊肯三世，56萬美元售出，漢銅局部鎏金錯金銀孔雀 - Sotheby’s NY 2019, Junkunc III, A Gold And Silver-Inlaid Parcel-Gilt Bronze Figure Of A Peacock, Han Dynasty, Sold for 560,000 USD

作為漢代鎏金鳳鳥工藝的佼佼者，該器物堪稱該品類的價格標竿，於2019年以56萬美元高價拍出。此類鳳鳥造型在西周青銅器中屢見不鮮；明尼阿波利斯藝術博物館亞洲藝術部主任柳揚博士曾撰文，將西周時期的「花冠鳥」進行系統性區分。及至北朝，特別是雲岡石窟第六窟中出現的「金翅鳥」（Garuda）亦與之形似，其間的演變與差異極具對比研究價值。

As a masterpiece of Han dynasty gilt-bronze fenghuang (phoenix) craftsmanship, this piece stands as a market benchmark, fetching USD 560,000 at auction in 2019. While similar phoenix motifs frequently appear on Western Zhou bronzes, Dr. Liu Yang, Chair of Asian Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, has published research about the "crested birds" (Huaguan niao) of the Western Zhou period. By the Northern Dynasties, resembling forms of the Garuda emerged, particularly in Cave 6 of the Yungang Grottoes. The stylistic evolution and distinctions between these figures merit further comparative study.

漢 銅局部鎏金錯金銀孔雀

估價：200,000 - 300,000 USD

已售出：560,000 USD

來源

盧芹齋，紐約，1946年12月7日

史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

展覽

《Exhibition of Chinese Arts》，盧芹齋，紐約，1941年，編號179

本品孔雀，站姿凜然，富麗華美，鑄造精煉，裝飾細緻，極為罕有。其羽飾瑰麗，引頸仰望，連精雕鳥首與金銀細節，賦予本品華貴之氣，在漢代相類造像中，無出其右者。 孔雀乃南方異物，時公元前三世紀，才載於文學典籍，化身為南方向漢朝皇宮進貢之象徵，參見Edward Schafer著，《The Vermillion Bird》，柏克萊，1967年，頁236-37。本品與一亞洲品種雄性孔雀相似，尾羽斑斕，羽毛豔麗。孔雀紋飾風行一時，象徵祥瑞，見世人對來世之憂，於漢代蔚然成風。

與本品媲美者寥寥無幾。一尊銅鎏金孔雀，內嵌綠松石，與本品造型相似，惟尺寸較小，無金銀飾，圖載於René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé，《Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection》，舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，舊金山，1974年，編號16；另提及三尊銅鎏金孔雀，內嵌綠松石，造型較素雅，出土自河北省定縣東漢墓。

孔雀時或描繪成神獸鳳凰。鳳凰與孔雀，皆具吉祥之意，前者紋飾多端。比較一尊鳳凰造像，優雅雍容，尾羽精緻，無鑲嵌，收錄於展覽圖錄《Ancient Chinese Bronzes》，J. J. Lally & Co.，紐約，2011年，編號20；另一例造型渾厚，曾由史蒂芬•瓊肯三世收藏，2019年3月19日售於蘇富比，編號122。

相關小型鳳凰造像，飾為銅器蓋頂，如見一例，出土自陝西省西安未央區，收錄於展覽圖錄《Splendeurs des Han, essor de l’empire céleste》，吉美博物館，巴黎，2014年，編號135。

另比較鳳凰油燈與香爐，如河北省滿城區陵山竇綰墓發現之油燈一例，現藏於石家莊河北省博物院，鳳凰像立於瑞獸之上，鳥喙含環盤，圖載於《中國文物精華大全•青銅卷》，上海，1994年，編號1145；以及盧芹齋收藏香爐一例，收錄於《An Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ritual Bronzes》，底特律藝術博物館，底特律，1940年，編號75。

A SPLENDID AND RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID PARCEL-GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A PEACOCK HAN DYNASTY

Estimate

200,000 - 300,000 USD

Sold

560,000 USD

Height 6 1/8  in., 15.5 cm

brilliantly cast standing on its slender legs terminating in talons, its wings and tail lifted upright, each formed by four arrays of plumes accentuated with recessed eyespots, its raised head detailed with a down-curved beak and large rounded eyes, surmounted by an elegantly curved crest, the plumage finely delineated body embellished in gold inlay forming stylized feathers, wood stand (2)

Provenance

C.T. Loo, New York, 7th December 1946.

Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Exhibited

Exhibition of Chinese Arts, C.T. Loo & Co., New York, 1941, cat. no. 179.

Condition

There are losses to the tips of five out of six of the lower, short tail feathers. The legs, wings and top of crest have been reattached and consolidated. The stone inlaid decoration is now missing. There is overall characteristic wear consistent with age, medium and type.

Catalogue Note

Standing proudly and in all its splendor, this figure of a peacock is extremely rare for its superb casting and exquisite decoration. The flamboyant plumage, elongated neck raised high, finely sculpted head and gold and silver detailing lend this piece a luxurious and rich countenance unrivalled by other bird figures from the Han dynasty. Peacocks were exotic creatures from the south and as they first appear in Chinese literature in the third century BC, their occurrence may represent southern tributes to the Han dynasty court from those days, see Edward Schafer, The Vermillion Bird, Berkeley, 1967, pp. 236-37. The present figure resembles a male peafowl of Asian species characterized by their eye-spotted tail and extravagant plumage. Peacocks were not merely popular as decorative motifs but represented auspicious omens (xiangrui), embodying the concern for the afterlife particularly prevalent during the Han dynasty.

Very few bird figures may be closely compared to the present piece. Of similar bearing, but smaller in size and lacking the gold-and-silver decoration, is a gilt-bronze peacock with turquoise inlay, illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 1974, no. 16, where three gilt-bronze peacocks are mentioned, with turquoise inlay, less flamboyant, excavated from an Eastern Han tomb near Dingxian, Hebei province.

The peacock was sometimes likened to the mythological phoenix in its artistic rendering. Endowed with similar auspicious qualities as the peacock, the phoenix appears in various decorative shapes. Compare, for example, an elegant phoenix figure displaying an elaborate tail, without inlay, included in the exhibition Ancient Chinese Bronzes, J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2011, cat. no. 20; and another, of stockier build, also from the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III, sold in these rooms, 19th March 2019, lot 122.

Related small phoenix figures served as finials on bronze vessel covers, such as, for example, on a zhong vase cover, discovered at Weiyang, near Xi’an, Shaanxi province, included in the exhibition Splendeurs des Han, essor de l’empire céleste, Musée Guimet, Paris, 2014, cat. no. 135.

Compare also the phoenix lamps and censers, such as, for example, a lamp found in the tomb of Dou Wan at Lingshan, Mancheng, Hebei Province and now in the Hebei Provincial Musuem in Shijiazhuang, standing on a coiled creature and holding a ring-like tray in its beak, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan, Qingtong juan,[The Quintessence of Chinese cultural relics Bronzes], Shanghai, 1994, no. 1145; and a censer from the collection of C. T. Loo, included in An Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ritual Bronzes, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 1940, cat. no. 75.