A bronze figure standing on a crouching beast, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period | 東周戰國時期 青銅馭獸立人燈座

J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 10th February 1992.

藍理捷，紐約，1992年2月10日

Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Sculpture and Works of Art, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 1992, cat. no. 28 and cover.

《Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Sculpture and Works of Art》，藍理捷，紐約，1992年，編號28及封面

The present figure with outstretched arms is holding a short cylinder, probably made to receive the peg of an oil lamp. Wearing an elaborate headdress and a long robe fastened with a sash below the waist, the figure has a carefully articulated face with an intent expression. It appears to be a realistic representation of a man of high social status, but the crouching beast under his feet suggests a religious or mythological meaning to the sculpture.

A Warring States period bronze lamp modelled as a kneeling man with similar facial features, also wearing a headdress and a robe and upholding an oil dish with a forked support was excavated from Shangcunling, Sanmenxia, Henan, and illustrated in Guolong Lai, 'Uses of the Human Figure in Early Chinese Art', Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 326-32, fig. 9. Another similar kneeling figure, holding a small tube in its hands, presumably to be used as a receptacle of a now-missing oil lamp, is in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, accession no. 50.46.114, and illustrated ibid., fig. 8. It was reputedly unearthed from Jincun near Luoyang, Henan, where a cemetery of the royal family of the Eastern Zhou is believed to be located. An inlay-decorated standing figure wearing a headdress and a long robe, but of a more slender build, is also in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, accession no. 2003.140.3. Compare a further bronze kneeling lamp bearer from the collection of Anthony Hardy, exhibited in Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong 2002-06, and sold at Christie's New York, 16th September 2010, lot 897.

呈立人狀。人臉尖圓，高眉，凸眼，大鼻，留鬚，頭頂束髮帶冠，一側插簪，頸係雙條帶作人字形結於胸前，身著窄袖掩膝袍，脚穿長靴，雙收擡起前申，手掌持燈柄，屹立於一匍匐獸背之上。該燈座設計別具匠心，鑄造精良，人俑形象栩栩如生，以伏獸為器底，穩定厚重卻又增添幾分生動意趣，融功能性與藝術性為一體。

參看河南省三門峽上村嶺出土的一件戰國中晚期青銅跪人燈，現藏河南省博物館，其人物頭飾及束髮方式與本品類似，見來國龍，〈Uses of the Human Figure in Early Chinese Art〉，《Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000》，香港，2001年，頁326-32，圖9。另見同著錄圖8藏於明尼阿波利斯美術館的一件類似跪坐人燈座，燈盤已失，此燈座據傳為河南洛陽金村東周王陵出土。明尼阿波利斯美術館亦藏另外一件錯金銀青銅鬼跪坐人燈座，唯人形更為消瘦，編號2003.140.3。思源堂舊藏一例，見《金木水火土：香港文物收藏精品展》，香港藝術館，2002-06年，後售於紐約佳士得2010年9月16日，編號897。