漢代筆記 vol.32 藍理捷：西漢鎏金銅鳳凰，2011年展覽 - J.J.Lally, A Gilt Bronze Figure Of A Phoenix, Ancient Chinese Bronzes Exhibition 2011

• 

• 

• 

這類鳳鳥多見於漢代，就如藍理捷在其紐約畫廊2011年的青銅展覽上說的，舊金山亞洲藝術博物館布倫戴奇收藏、河北滿城中山靖王劉勝墓、1980年秦陵周邊陪葬墓出土均有類似作品。2019年紐約拍出兩件來自瓊肯三世（Stephen Junkunc III）的類似獨立鳳鳥，其中一件帶鑲嵌。有趣的是，到了北朝這類鳳鳥的形象又出現在佛教的主題中，可參見雲崗石窟第六窟中心塔柱南面下層東西內部兩件拱端鳥形，被學者稱為「金翅鳥」。兩者之間是否有什麼關聯呢？從漢代到北朝，中間經歷了什麼？

These types of phoenix birds are frequently encountered in the Han dynasty, as noted by J. J. Lally in the 2011 bronze exhibition held at his New York gallery. Comparable examples are found in the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, in the tomb of Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan, at Mancheng, Hebei, and among the objects excavated in 1980 from a subsidiary burial near the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.

In 2019, two similar freestanding phoenix figures from the collection of Stephen Junkunc III were sold at auction in New York, one of them with inlay.

Interestingly, by the Northern Dynasties this form of phoenix bird reappears within Buddhist iconography. Reference may be made to the two bird figures at the ends of the arches on the lower level of the south face of the central pillar in Cave 6 at the Yungang Grottoes (east and west sides of the interior), which scholars have identified as Garuda (金翅鳥).

Is there any connection between the Han phoenix and these Northern Dynasties birds? What shifts in meaning took place in the intervening centuries?

西漢鎏金銅鳳凰

高 11.9 厘米

藍理捷：西漢鎏金銅鳳凰，2011年展覽第20號

實心鑄造，並以精細陰刻線條細部裝飾。此神鳥作站立狀，雙翼收攏，昂首挺立，喙中銜「珠」。其碩大尾羽鑄成六根對稱展開的長翎，下方另有六根較短尾羽，分左右各三根向下捲曲；胸前圓潤處前方垂下一撮尖細羽簇。頭部兩側各有向後sweep的羽簇，大而圓睜的雙目上方飾以捲曲眉紋，頭頂有一小圓形凹窩。雙腿有力，足趾粗壯，通體表面飾以陰刻風格化羽紋及其他線條細節，包括大量小圓圈與捲雲紋。鎏金保存良好，表面散見鮮亮的綠、紅銹斑。

漢代鎏金銅質動物雕塑極為罕見。一件具有高聳羽尾、陰刻細節相近的獨立小鎏金銅鳥，見於Lefebvre d’Argencé編《Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture: The Avery Brundage Collection》（舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，東京，1974），頁60-61，編號16。該書並引述河北定縣漢墓出土的另一例，刊於《文物》1964年第12期，圖版1-3。

一件細節較為簡略的鎏金銅鳳凰飾件，1980年出土於陝西臨潼縣，距秦始皇陵北側不足一公里，曾於1994-95年日本巡展展出，圖見世田谷美術館圖錄《秦の始皇帝とその時代展》（東京，1994），編號115。同一件亦見於Li著《Eternal China: Splendors from the First Dynasties》（Dayton，1998），頁66-67，編號5。

1968年河北滿城中山靖王劉勝（卒於公元前113年）之妻竇綰墓中，出土一件由雙杯以鳳凰相連而成的鎏金銅器，同墓並出鳳形銅燈。見《滿城漢墓發掘報告》（北京，1980）卷二，彩色圖版XXIV、XXV。此二件漢代鳳鳥形器物自出土後廣為著錄與展出，中英文出版物中多有收錄。

另可比較1974年河南偃師縣漢墓出土的一組四件小鎏金銅動物，現藏河南省博物館，圖見新加坡皇后坊特別展圖錄《Treasures from the Han》（新加坡，1990），頁69。

雲岡石窟第六窟中心塔柱南面下層東內部拱端鳥形

雲岡石窟第六窟中心塔柱南面下層西內部拱端鳥形

jjlally_2011_exhibition_catalogue.pdf

Download PDF • 9.47MB

Ancient Chinese Bronzes

March 19 - April 9, 2011

no. 20 - A GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A PHOENIX

Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 8)

solid cast and with finely engraved linear detailing, the mythical bird shown standing with wings folded and head erect, holding a ‘pearl’ in its beak, its large tail cast as six plumes arrayed symmetrically and fanned out above six shorter tail feathers curled down in matching groups of three on each side, and with a pointed tuft of feathers in front extending down from the rounded chest, the head with feather-tufts sweeping back on each side behind the large staring eyes which are surmounted by curling eyebrows, and with a small circular recess on top of the head, the powerful legs ending in large talons and the surface embellished with incised stylized feather markings and other linear detailing including numerous small circles and scroll motifs, the gilding well preserved and with widely scattered bright green and red surface patination.

Height 4 11⁄16 inches (11.9 cm)

Han gilt bronze animal sculptures are extremely rare.  A free-standing small gilt bronze bird with high plumed tail and similar engraved details is illustrated by Lefebvre d’Argencé, (ed.) in Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture: The Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Tokyo, 1974, pp. 60-61, no. 16, where the author cites another example unearthed from a Han dynasty tomb in Ding county, Hebei province, published in Wenwu, 1964, No. 12, pl. 1-3.

A less elaborately detailed gilt bronze phoenix-finial excavated in 1980 at Lintong county, Shaanxi province, less than one kilometer north of the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, was included in the traveling exhibition which toured Japan in 1994-95 and is illustrated in the Setagaya Museum of Art catalogue, Shin no Shikōtei to sono jidaiten (Exhibition of the Archaeological Relics of the Emperor Qin Shihuang), Tokyo, 1994, no. 115.  The same gilt bronze phoenix is illustrated by Li in Eternal China: Splendors from the First Dynasties, Dayton, 1998, pp. 66-67, no. 5.

A gilt bronze vessel made in the form of two cups joined by a phoenix was discovered in 1968 at Mancheng, Hebei province, in the tomb of princess Dou Wan, the wife of prince Liu Sheng (d. 113 B.C.), ruler of the Western Han kingdom of Zhongshan and a son of the emperor, and a phoenix-form bronze lamp was found in the same tomb.  See the excavation report entitled Mancheng Han mu fajue baogao (Excavation of the Han Tombs at Man-ch’eng), Beijing 1980, Vol. II, col. pls. XXIV and XXV.  Both of those Han phoenix-bird objects have been widely published and exhibited since their discovery and can be found in many different publications in English and Chinese.

Compare also the group of four small gilt bronze animals discovered in 1974 in a Han dynasty tomb at Yanshi county, Henan, and now in the Henan Provincial Museum, illustrated in the catalogue of the special exhibition shown at the Empress Place, Singapore, 1990-91, Treasures from the Han, Singapore, 1990, p. 69.