Lot 209 宋　銅錯金銀甪端薰爐 | A GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID LUDUAN INCENSE BURNER AND COVER

宋　銅錯金銀甪端薰爐 | A GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID LUDUAN INCENSE BURNER AND COVER

Song Dynasty

HKD 1,200,000

HKD 1200000 - 1500000

未知

未知

Song Dynasty
The mythical beast powerfully cast standing foursquare with the hinged-cover formed as head facing upwards with jaws agape to reveal fangs inlaid with silver and gold beneath bulbous eyes with gold irises beneath bushy brows and a long curling horn, two tubular ears jutting out from a luxuriant mane with radiating curls, the rotund body with silver-wire inlaid key-fret pattern and archaistic curvilinear designs on the breast, tail and limbs terminating with five-clawed feet.
36cm (14 1/8in) high. (2).
Footnotes
宋　銅錯金銀甪端薰爐
The result of CIRAM thermoluminescence test no. 0308-OA-58R, dated 31 March 2008, is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Provenance:
Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet (1849-1924), Easton Neston, Northamptonshire; recorded in Easton Neston's inventory lists of 1923 (Dining Room)
Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 8th Baronet, later created the 1st Baron Hesketh (1881-1944), Easton Neston; recorded in Easton Neston's inventory list of 1927 (Drawing Room)
Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh DL (1916-1955), Easton Neston
His wife, Christian Mary McEwen, Lady Hesketh OBE (1929-2006), Easton Neston
Sotheby's London, 7 March 2007, lot 13 ('The Estate Of Christian, Lady Hesketh: Sold By Order Of Her Executors, Together With Property Of The Trustees Of The 2nd Baron Hesketh's Will Trust')
第七代從男爵湯瑪斯·喬治·弗莫爾-赫斯基爵士（Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh，1849–1924），北安普敦郡伊斯頓內斯頓；見於1923年伊斯頓內斯頓莊園庫存清單（飯廳）
第八代從男爵湯瑪斯·弗莫爾-赫斯基爵士，後封第一代赫斯基男爵（Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh，1881–1944），伊斯頓內斯頓；見於1927年伊斯頓內斯頓莊園庫存清單（客廳）
第二代赫斯基男爵弗雷德里克·弗莫爾-赫斯基（Frederick Fermor-Hesketh，1916–1955），伊斯頓內斯頓
其妻克里斯蒂安·瑪麗·麥克尤恩，赫斯基夫人OBE（Christian Mary McEwen, Lady Hesketh，1929–2006），伊斯頓內斯頓
倫敦蘇富比，2007年3月7日，拍品編號13（遺產拍賣，奉其遺囑執行人及第二代赫斯基男爵遺囑信託受託人之命出售）
Lady Hesketh (1929–2006), née Christian Mary McEwen, was a British historian, civic leader, and collector. She held the office of High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1981 and was actively involved in local public life and charitable organisations, including the Women's Royal Voluntary Service and the Arts Council. An accomplished scholar, she earned a doctorate from King's College London for her research on 17th century Scottish political history. Following the early death of her husband, the second Lord Hesketh, she managed the family estate at Easton Neston, Northamptonshire. Lady Hesketh assembled a distinguished collection of books, manuscripts, and decorative arts.
A (路端) is a horned auspicious beast associated in late imperial China with Court ritual and interior guardianship. The term is a Ming-Qing designation for a recognised type of composite guardian creature, rather than a single beast of classical mythology. Its form appears to derive in part from earlier traditions of protective beasts, notably the single-horned (天祿), companion to the female, two-horned (辟邪). The has long been associated with warding off malign influences and attracting auspicious forces. A closely related example is a gold and silver-inlaid bronze incense burner in the form of a , Song dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, Palace Museum, Beijing (acc.no.故00078045).
Compare also with an archaistic bronze gold and silver-inlaid bronze 'tapir' form vessel, Yuan/Ming dynasty, 13th-14th century, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by D.Failla, , Genoa, 2017, pp.256-257, no.18. Another gold and silver-inlaid bronze 'tapir' wine vessel, Song or later, is in the Qing Court Collection, Palace Museum, Taipei (acc.no.故銅001834N000000000). See also a wheeled-goat vessel with gold and silver inlay, Yuan to Ming dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, (acc.no.中銅000560N000000000). A wine vessel in the shape of a bird with gold and silver inlay, Song or later, is also in the Palace Museum, Taipei, (acc.no.中銅001124N000000000). See also a gold and silver-inlaid bronze incense burner, Southern Song/ Yuan dynasty, in the British Museum, London (acc.no.1885,1108.1).
The (考古圖, ), compiled in the Northern Song dynasty in 1092 by Lü Dalin, is one of the earliest systematic illustrated catalogues of ancient bronze and jade artefacts, documenting ritual vessels from the Shang through Han periods. Song literati and connoisseurs drew on such antiquarian texts and illustrations to inform their understanding of ancient forms, reviving the aesthetic and ritual language of past bronzes and adapting elements of their design in contemporary craft. This Song-period engagement with ancient bronzes shaped tastes and models for later metalwork and decorative repertoire, creating a context in which archaic motifs and beast forms were transmitted and reinterpreted. In this light, mythic-beast-shaped incense burners such as the present bronze can be understood as part of a tradition of archaistic adaptation, whose visual and conceptual precedents in sources like the would have provided inspiration to Song craftsmen working in bronze. See an illustration of a mythical beast incense burner, illustrated in , Shanghai, 1991, pl.840-264.
See a related but smaller (26.8cm long) archaistic gold and silver-inlaid bronze tapir form vessel, , Song/Ming dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 21 September 2021, lot 223. Compare also with a gold and silver-inlaid bronze tapir vessel, Song dynasty, illustrated in the , Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1915, pl.XXXV, and which was later sold at Christie's Paris, 12 June 2012, lot 286.
赫斯基夫人（Lady Hesketh，1929–2006），本名克里斯蒂安·瑪麗·麥克尤恩（Christian Mary McEwen），英國歷史學家、社會領袖及收藏家。1981年出任北安普敦郡郡長，積極參與地方公共事務與慈善組織，包括婦女皇家志願服務隊及藝術委員會。夫人學養深厚，於倫敦國王學院取得博士學位，專攻十七世紀蘇格蘭政治史。其夫第二任赫斯基勳爵早逝後，她悉心管理北安普敦郡伊斯頓內斯頓之家族莊園，並建立了卓越的藏書、手稿及裝飾藝術收藏。
瑞獸甪端，形似麒麟而獨具一角。明清時期，常置於宮廷儀典或內廷鎮護，用以辟邪納祥。「甪端」一名為明清對此類鎮宅神獸之通稱，非專指某一特定神話生物。其造型或可溯源自更早之鎮獸傳統，如獨角之天祿及雙角之辟邪等。甪端自古被視為能驅除邪祟、迎納祥瑞之靈獸。參考清宮舊藏一件宋代銅錯金銀甪端薰爐（館藏編號：故00078045），現藏於北京故宮博物院。
工藝上可比較一件元明時期（十三至十四世紀）銅錯金銀犧尊，現藏台北故宮博物院，見D.Failla，《Food for the Ancestors, Flowers for the Gods: Transformations of Archaistic Bronzes in China and Japan》，熱那亞，2017年，頁256至257，編號18。台北故宮博物院另藏一件宋代或更晚之銅錯金銀犧尊（館藏編號：故銅001834N000000000）；及一件元明銅錯金銀帶輪羊尊（館藏編號：中銅000560N000000000）；及一件宋或更晚之銅嵌金銀鳥尊（館藏編號：中銅001124N000000000）。倫敦大英博物館藏一件南宋或元銅錯金銀香爐（館藏編號：1885,1108.1），亦可參照。
北宋呂大臨於元祐七年（1092年）編纂之《考古圖》，為中國最早之青銅器與玉器系統性圖錄之一，收錄商至漢代禮器。宋代文人與鑑賞家即據此類金石學著作與圖像，以理解古器形制，復興古代青銅器之審美與禮儀，並將其元素融入當代工藝。這種對古器之鑽研，深刻影響後世金屬工藝與裝飾題材，使古風紋飾與獸形設計得以傳承與再詮釋。在此脈絡下，本拍品可視為仿古傳統之一環，其視覺與觀念之源，或可溯至《考古圖》等早期著錄，為宋代銅匠提供靈感。參考書中所載之瑞獸薰爐，見《考古圖》，上海，1991年，圖版840-264。
參考一件宋至明代銅錯金銀犧尊，尺寸略小（長26.8厘米），售於紐約蘇富比，2021年9月21日，拍品編號223。比較一件宋代銅錯金銀犧尊，載於《Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Art》，倫敦伯靈頓美術俱樂部，1915年，圖版XXXV，後售於巴黎佳士得，2012年6月12日，拍品編號286。