A RARE CHINESE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE DUCK-SHAPED POURING VESSEL, ZUN

A RARE CHINESE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE DUCK-SHAPED POURING VESSEL, ZUN
SONG-MING DYNASTY

Modelled in the form of a waterfowl standing on webbed feet with its head facing forward and wings tucked into the sides, its back bearing a vase with a flared rim. The face, neck and wings decorated with archaistic spiral and scroll designs, the tail detailed with naturalistic feathers, the surface with minor green encrustations, together with a wood stand and a fitted box, 213g, 9cm. (2)

Provenance: from the collection of Major Henry F Stanley MC (1911-97). Major Stanley, formerly of the Grenadier Guards, was recruited from the Royal Automobile Club in London in 1957 to head and form the Hong Kong Tourist Association, retiring from his role as executive director in 1971. He was widely known as the 'Father of Hong Kong Tourism'.

Cf. R Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, p.17, pl.4, for a pouring vessel of a similar shape dated to the Song dynasty; see also The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no.14.58.183, for a related duck-shaped vessel dated 15th/16th century.

This aquatic bird-shaped bronze vessel is based on archaic bronze prototypes dated from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD, such as a very similar example with a bail handle recorded in the Chong Xiu Xuanhe bo gu tu lu, Drawings and Lists of All the Antiques Known at the Xuanhe Period (1119-23), which catalogued over 800 early bronzes in the Song dynasty Palace Collection, dating from the Shang to the Tang dynasty.

宋至明 銅錯金銀鳧尊