AN EXTREMELY RARE JADE VESSEL, HU EASTERN HAN DYNASTY | 東漢 玉獸首銜環壺

Jiang Tao and Liu Yunhui, Jades from Hei-Chi Collection II, Beijing, 2012, p. 91.

姜濤及劉雲輝，《熙墀藏玉續》，北京，2012年，頁91

Jade vessels from the Han dynasty, made only for the use of the nobility, are extremely rare, possibly because of the inevitable waste of material involved in the production process. The deceptive simplicity of the present vessel, probably inspired by contemporaneous bronzes, conceals the technical challenge presented to the carver, who had to empty the interior through the relatively narrow mouth. No comparable example appears to have been published. Compare an elaborately carved Western Han dynasty animal mask handle, excavated from the mausoleum of Emperor Wudi (156-88 BC), Xingping, Shaanxi, included in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 14: Shaanxi, Beijing, 2005, pl. 132, together with an undecorated stem cup of a similar greyish brown tone from the mausoleum of Emperor Zhaodi (94-74 BC), pl. 155.

玉質器皿，耗料費工，是以高古兩漢之時，即便皇室貴族所用，玉盃等易於掏摚之器也絕非多見，何況如此小口玉皿。此壺器形秀逸，不求繁複飾紋，著重彰顯玉石秀樸之美，妙仿同代銅器，簡綴鋪首成對，甚是罕稀。著錄雖未見有相類例子，但可參考其他玉雕獸首，如陝西興平漢武帝陵園出土之西漢四靈紋鋪首，粗眉大目，見《中國出土玉器全集》，卷14：陝西，北京，2005年，圖版132。另可參考陝西漢昭帝平陵之高足玉盃，同樣光素無紋，經沁後色呈灰褐，同上註，圖版155。