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9
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YUE" ARCHAIC HATCH in bronze with a green patina and azurite…
See original version (French)
9
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YUE" ARCHAIC HATCH in bronze with a green patina and azurite…
See original version (French)
Estimate €8,000 - €12,000
Voluntary lot
Description
YUE" ARCHAIC HATCH in bronze with a green patina and azurite highlights, the blade quadrangular at the top, flaring out towards the bottom where it forms an arc of a circle; the decoration in slight relief on both sides, of two stylised Gui dragons leaning against each other to form a Taotie mask with a characteristic mouth; The upper part or "Nei", forming a tenon to fix the blade in a wooden handle, is decorated with a Taotie mask on one side and an archaic inscription on the other, probably "Si Tu Mu". China, late Shang period, Yinxu (Anyang), circa 1200 BC. A BRONZE "YE" AX, CHINA, LATE SHANG PERIOD, CA. 1200 B.C.HEIGHT. 20,7 CM (8 1/8 IN.) - WIDTH (MAX.) 14,3 CM (5 5/8 IN.)Provenance: By descent from the collection of a director of the Société d'import-export Denis Frères in Saigon between 1925 and 1955.acquired in the early 1950s from T. Y. King in Hong Kong.The invoice has not been preserved, but we can refer to the one for lots 7 and 8, of the same provenance, dated 28 March 1953, the collector having bought most of the Chinese objects in his collection from this Hong Kong antique dealer.Note: The inscription "Si Tu Mu" refers to the famous royal tomb of Fu Hao, who is said to have been one of the concubines of Emperor Wu Ding of the Shang. Excavated from 1976 onwards at the site of Yinxu (Xibeigang cemetery), the last capital of the Shang dynasty, in Anyang, this was the first Shang tomb to be discovered intact. It is also the first archaeological find to be associated with a historical figure, mentioned in oracular inscriptions on tortoise shells. It yielded a wealth of vases and objects made of bronzes, jades, ceramics and cowries. A large number of the bronzes bear inscriptions, of which nine have been identified. The two most common inscriptions are Fu Hao and Si Tu Mu. Variants of the latter inscription are reproduced in the comprehensive excavation report published in 1980: Yinxu Fu Hao mu (the tomb of Fu Hao in Yinxu), Wenwu Press, Beijing, 1980, pp. 58, 81. The report also illustrates a Yue axe which, although decorated differently, has the same characteristic mouth (see ibid, p. 106 and coloured plate XIII). The "Si Tu Mu" inscription is also studied in Studies of Shang Archaeology, Selected Papers from the International Conference on Shang Civilization, edited by K.C. Chang, Yale University Press, 1986, chapt. 5, A Study of the Bronzes with the "Ssu T'u Mu" Inscriptions Excavated from the Fu Hao Tomb, by Cheng Chen-Hsiang (Zheng Zhenxiang), pp. 81-102. At the end of her study, the author mentions that this inscription has been known since the Song period (when archaic bronzes were "rediscovered", particularly when new tombs were dug, encroaching on old ones) and that a few pieces with this inscription are known, including some unearthed in Xiaotun before the Second World War (the Yinxu site was discovered in 1928). She also mentions a Yue axe cited in a Japanese work, Shodô Zenshû, vol. 1, Akatsuka et al, 1965, whose "Nei" bears an inscription "Si Tu Mu" very similar to that on our axe (illustrated on p. 94, fig. 19 of her study). Since the discovery of Fu Hao's tomb, there has been much discussion about the identification of Si Tu Mu. Is she Fu Hao? Another of Wu Ding's three concubines known from oracular inscriptions? And why is this inscription found on bronzes discovered outside Fu Hao's tomb? These are all questions to which archaeologists have put forward various answers, notably Cheng Chen-hsiang in the study mentioned above. Finally, it should be pointed out that this axe belongs to a large group of similar axes, some of which are held in several Western collections and museums, and are characterised by their decoration, particularly the stylised treatment of the mouth of the Taotie mask. One of the most notable examples is the axe from the David-Weill collection (1871-1952), sold with the collection at Sotheby's in Paris on 16 December 2015, lot 13, and again on 14 June 2024, lot 181.
See original version (French)
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