A Naturalistically Cast Bronze Recumbent Deer Ming Dynasty, Chenghua Period, Dated 1474

realistically modelled as a recumbent deer with a proudly raised triangular head detailed with almond-shaped eyes and branched antlers, grasping a curled sprig of lingzhi fungus in its mouth below comma-shaped flaring nostrils, its head gently turned towards its short tail, the hoofed beast with its legs neatly tucked beneath its robust body rendered with scattered stylised florets representing the snow-spotted fur, further decorated above its haunches with three ripe peaches accompanied by pointed leaves, each of the underside of the front limbs cast with four characters in regular script, together reading Chenghua shi nian, Liu Dingzhi zhi ('Made by Liu Dingzhi in the tenth year of the Chenghua period', corresponding to 1474), the dark brown richly patinated bronze surface further enhanced by cinnabar-lacquer red and green splashes, wood stand

Sotheby's New York, 18th September 1996, lot 145.

The fragile extremities, including both antlers, as well as the left section of the lingzhi sprig, have been broken off and reattached. Apart from some occasional casting flaws, minor dents and wear to the paint and lacquer splashes on the surface, the overall condition is quite good.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This magnificent bronze sculpture is not only a sublimely rendered work of art of outstanding beauty, but also an extraordinarily rare piece of documentary importance, the only dated bronze animal figure of its kind. That it emanates from the short Chenghua reign is all the more phenomenal. When it first emerged from a collection in Florida and was sold at auction in New York in September 1996, it caused a sensation, and was featured in the New York Times, where it was described as “an extravaganza…the only precisely dated landmark in the middle Ming period”. Massively constructed, yet sublimely beautiful in the elegance of its form, its gently curved body is immediately eye-catching from a distance, yet highly tactile at close quarters. No doubt it graced the home of a high official or wealthy merchant, the combination of sheer naturalistic beauty and auspicious symbolism exuberating positive energy.

For later bronze sculptures of comparable form and beauty, the closest example is the famous bronze mirror stand in the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated by Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p. 101, fig. 87, and illustrated on the cover. It is cast in the form of a xiniu, a mythical single-horned animal and has tentatively been assigned to the Song / Yuan dynasty, but there is no compelling reason why it may not date to a later reign. Certainly, there are close similarities between the V & A Museum xiniu and the Speelman deer in terms of the overall casting, the naturalistic depiction of the two animals in recumbent posture, the manner in which their heads and neck curve elegantly to one side, and the treatment of the hooves, which in both figures neatly tuck under the legs. The poise of the xiniu, depicted gently curving its head and revealing its sensitive yet noble expression, is also reminiscent of the countenance of the current sculpture.

The only other recorded Chenghua-dated work art in the form of a deer is a Longquan celadon ceramic cup from the Jack Chia Collection, sold in these rooms, 5th November 1996, lot 642, and more recently at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th November 2011, lot 3021. The rare cup is of jue form, depicted supported on a deer, and moulded on the base with the mark Chenghua nian longquan zao (‘Made at Longquan in the Chenghua period’). Unlike the porcelains manufactured at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, this cup, produced at the Longquan kiln, bears a reign mark which although of the period, demonstrates that it was commissioned for an individual, not for the imperial court.

The eight-character inscription cast under the two front legs of the Speelman deer, Chenghua shi nian, Liu Dingzhi zhi can be translated as ‘Made by Liu Dingzhi in the tenth year of the Chenghua period' or possibly as ‘Made for Liu Dingzhi’. In the annals of Ming history written by Zhang Tingyu, Mingshi, there are records of an accomplished scholar and lover of literature named Liu Dingzhi of Jiangxi (1409-1469), who held office in the Chenghua period, and rose to the official rank of Assistant Minister of Rites in 1468. He is recorded as having died the following year, but was posthumously promoted to Minister of Rites.  In the absence of any firm evidence, it is impossible to elaborate further, and there may well have been other wealthy individuals by the same name in the Chenghua period, but it could be conjectured that rather than being made by Liu Dingzhi, that the deer was made for Liu Dingzhi, possibly by friends and family in celebration of his posthumous promotion.

For other examples of rare Chenghua dated metalwork, see two bronze incense burners, marked Da Ming Chenghua nian Wan jia zao ('Made in the reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty by the Wan family'), one from the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection, sold in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 158, and another in the Musée Cernuschi, Paris, illustrated by Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, London, 1963, p. 137, pl. 60; and by Michel Maucuer, Bronzes de la Chine impériale des Song aux Qing, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, 2013, cat. no. 73. For a dated example of Chenghua gilt-bronze sculpture, see a Chenghua figure of Sakyamuni Buddha in the British Museum, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 529, fig. 150F. The dedicatory inscription, dated to the third year of Chenghua (1467), is inscribed in regular script in a style closely related to the inscription on the Speelman deer. 

The motif of the deer stretches back to the dawn of Chinese art history. Arguably its finest creative articulation is in the lacquered wood figure of a recumbent deer from the late Spring and Autumn period tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng, excavated in 1978 in Hubei from an intact royal tomb of Zeng, a small state subordinate to Chu. It is illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Qinghua Da Cidian. Jinyin yu Shiquan, Shanghai, 1996, p. 153, pl. 004. With the overall body lacquered black, highlighted with naturalistically rendered spots in vermillion-red lacquer, like the Speelman deer, it clearly represents the species Sika mandarinus, the most favoured by artisans of all the nineteen species of deer found in China, due to its attractive spotting.

The deer has traditionally been an emblem of immortality in China, believed to live to a very great age. As encapsulated in the iconography of the current sculpture, where a sprig of lingzhi fungus is depicted clasped between its teeth, the deer was considered the only animal capable of finding the fabled and sacred fungus of immortality. A picture of a deer is often a rebus for official emolument, due to the similar pronunciation of the two words. For a representation of deer in Song ceramics, see a Cizhou pillow depicting two spotted deer with large antlers, illustrated by Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 42:k; and for a representation of a deer in silver, see a Song dynasty silver bowl from the Kempe collection, illustrated by Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 138. For an early depiction of deer in painting, see the Liao dynasty painting ‘Deer in an Autumnal Wood’ in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Laurence Sickman and Alexander Soper, The Art and Architecture of China, Yale University Press, 1956, p. 239, pl. 164. For a representation of deer in Yuan dynasty ceramic art, see a blue and white ‘Three Friends’ jar sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1384, where the deer in the landscape is portrayed turning its head back towards a sprig of lingzhi fungus within the wondrous landscape. The Speelman deer is an outstanding testament to fifteenth century bronze craftsmanship, which comfortably fits into China’s longstanding tradition of depicting deer in high quality artworks of every medium.