A rare Yixing archaistic animal-form water vessel, signed Chen Zhongmei
Lot 1251. A rare Yixing archaistic animal-form water vessel, signed Chen Zhongmei; 11 in. (28 cm.) long. Estimate $150,000 - USD 250,000. Price realised USD 182,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012
Finely modeled in the form of a hoofed animal standing foursquare, the cheeks outlined with curved borders that issue from the tripartite motif that covers the muzzle, with pricked ears and pierced mouth, a collar encircling the neck, scrolled haunches and a long faceted tail, the opening in the back fitted with a cover with faceted loop handle, the belly inscribed with the maker's name, Zhongmei, followed by his seal, Chen Zhongmei zhi (made by Chen Zhongmei), stamped in relief, the brown stoneware with fine buff speckling throughout.
Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Wiltshire III, Richmond, Virginia; Sotheby's, New York, 5 November 1977, lot 195.
Dr. Ip Yee Collection; Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 19 November 1984, lot 96.
Note: This rare zoomorphic vessel characterizes the scholar's interest in antiquity and especially in ancient bronzes. Bronze vessels of this form with inlaid silver and gold decoration are known from the middle of the Warring States period (475-221 BC). An example excavated in Jiangsu in 1965, and now in the collection of the Nanjing Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji - Gongyi meishu bian- 5- Qingtongqi (xia), Beijing, 1986, p. 126, no. 144. This bronze vessel shares with the current Yixing example the small cover set into its back with a compressed loop handle. The examples from the Bronze Age appear to have found favor with the Northern Song Emperor Huizong, who was a very keen antiquarian and who instigated the publication of illustrated catalogues of the items in his collection. One of these - the Xuanhe Bogu tulu (Xuanhe Illustrated Catalogue of Antiques) - included an illustration of such an early bronze vessel. While the original edition would not have been readily available to later craftsmen, it was reprinted on a number of occasions, and the illustration of this zoomorphic vessel appears, for example, in the AD 1528 edition, known as the Bogu tulu. Even in the Song dynasty inlaid bronze copies appear to have been made of these zoomorphic vessels, and their popularity continued into the Yuan and Ming periods. A Yuan dynasty example with gold and silver inlay from the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Through the Prism of the Past, Taipei, 2003, p. 186, no. III-55. The current Yixing vessel uses low relief to provide linear decoration inspired by inlays on the bronze examples.
The identity of the ungulate animal represented in these vessels has been much discussed and is variously described as a 'mythological animal', a 'rhinoceros', and a 'tapir'. The latter seems the most likely candidate, since the form has significant features in common with surviving species of tapir, and archaeology has shown that tapirs were indigenous to China in earlier times, indeed, remains of tapirs were found in Guizhou that date to 200,000 BP. These animals have long been extinct in China, but the Asian tapir has survived in small numbers in areas of Southeast Asia. It is interesting to note that even the bronze tapirs of the Warring States period are shown with collars, as is the current ceramic example, which suggests that at one time there was a degree of domestication.
The under-belly of the animal bears the mark of the famous ceramic artist Chen Zhongmei. It is signed Zhongmei followed by his seal reading 'Chen Zhongmei zhi' (made by Chen Zhongmei). Chen Zhongmei is recorded as working from the early 1600s onwards, but died at a young age and probably did not see the end of the Ming dynasty. The 17th century Yangxian ming huzi(Tradition of Yangxian Teapots) by Zhou Bogao notes that: "Chen Zhongmei, a native of Wuyuan [near present day Wuhu in Anhui province], began working as a potter in Jingdezhen. As there were too many potters, it was not easy to establish a successful business. Therefore, he left Jingdezhen and came [to Yangxian]. He had great artistry in mixing fine pottery clay and he made superb copies and adaptations to archaistic shapes." (as translated in K.S. Lo Collection in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, part 2, Hong Kong, 1984, p. 24). This passage not only confirms Chen Zhongmei's skill in creating archaistic vessels, such as the current example, but also establishes that he was a celebrated craftsman in his own time, since Zhou Bogao, the author of Yangxian ming huzi, was a devoted Ming loyalist who committed suicide when the Ming dynasty was finally defeated by the Manchus. As K.S. Lo notes in the Stoneware of Yixing from the Ming Period to the Present Day, London and Hong Kong, 1986, p. 71, "He [Chen Zhongmei] arrived at Yixing endowed with the formidable technique which he had acquired at Jingdezhen. Chen Zhongmei ranks with Xu Yongquan and Chen Mingyuan as one of the three most versatile and prolific Yixing potters of any period. His range embraced not only teapots but ornamental articles, such as incense boxes, flower vases and paperweights, as well as imitations of archaic bronze animals and birds."
It is significant that the artist has both carved his name Zhongmei in kaishu onto the belly of the animal and has also impressed his seal. Previously Yixing artists had not used seals, and it is believed that Chen Zhongmei was one of the first Yixing potters to do so.
A smaller version of this vessel by Cheng Zhongmei is illustrated by Chen Keli, Yangxian Shaqi Jingpin tulu (Masterpieces of Yangxian Pottery), Taipei, 1985, p. 22. A very similar, if slightly smaller, Yixing zoomorphic vessel, which also bears the mark of Chen Zhongmei, in the collection of K.S. Lo is illustrated in K.S. Lo Collection in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, part 2, Hong Kong, 1984, p. 40, no. 12.
Christie's. Auspicious Treasures for Scholars and Emperors: Selections from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Plaza