An unusual silver inlaid bronze archaistic pitcher


17th century or earlierThe separately cast lid attached by a hinged handle and ring apparatus reinforced by later modern screws and adorned in vaguely zoomorphic ear and horn patterns as well as a hinged front flap curved to fit the spout, all surmounting the pear shaped body encircled by a raised band of irregular cloud motifs vertically straddled by a small loop handle, raised upon a cylindrical foot rim. 14in (35.5cm) high
|The current lot includes classic Shang and Zhou dynasty inspiration possibly from the following shapes: the pear-shaped body of the hu, the almost fussily elaborate animal-form lid of the gong/guang, and the handle of the tiliang you. Beginning in the Song dynasty, trends of intellectual antiquarianism fueled a demand for the moral authority owning the above vessels bestowed. Thus a vibrant economic market inevitably resulted in fancifully archaistic homages such as the present lot. This market would go on to become especially productive towards the end of the Ming dynasty, when a newly wealthy mercantile class became eager for the moral and intellectual legitimacy of antique connoisseurship to legitimize fortunes created outside the traditional path of success on the imperial exams. These economic political and philosophical traditions would remain unbroken to recent times, reflected on the present lot by the addition of modern screws and threaded metal-alloy knobs added by a collector or tradesman to reinforce antique elements. See Tao Wang (et al.), Mirroring China's Past: Emperors, Scholars and their Bronzes (New Haven: Yale and the Art Institute of Chicago, 2018), pp. 85-97 and passim.