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LIST 211 — New & Recent
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DUAWP1 [Commissioned by Duan Fang]: WOODBLOCK PRINT OF ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZE ALTAR SET. Plus two accompanying pamphlets, one museum bulletin and one book.. 陶齋舊藏古柉禁全面版畫 。 端方 定製. N.p. (Wuhan?), n.d. (1902?). Woodblock print in green ink 95x90 cm. Anonymous pamphlet: 4 pp. Chinese text & 14 pp. English text. B/w photographs tipped-in; Ferguson pamphlet: 17 pp. English text and 16 pp. Chinese text; Metropolitan Museum bulletin with 4 pp. relating to altar set; Book: Umehara Sueji: ETUDE ARCHEOLOGIQUE SUR LE PIEN-CHIN, OU SERIE DE BRONZES. Avec Une Table Pour l'Usage Rituel Dans la Chine Antique. 柉禁の考古學の考察 。 梅原末治 著. Memoire de Toho Bunka Gakuin, Vol. 2. Kyoto, 1933. v, 10 pp French text; iv, 53 pp. Japanese text. 29 plates, 14 text-figures. 31x25 cm. Cloth. 95x90 cm. Woodblock print. GBP 5,000.00 This extraordinary set of ancient Western Zhou ritual bronzes was found in 1901 in a grave located in a small village near the city of Baoji in China's Shaanxi province. The find was reported to Shen Yun, the Governor-General of the province. He took steps to secure the bronzes and they quickly passed into the hands of his relative, the famous connoisseur and collector, Duan Fang, who had recently been Governor of Shaanxi and who was now Governor of Hubei province resident in Wuchang (Wuhan). The bronzes arrived in Wuchang in 1902 under armed escort. Following Duan Fang's death in 1911 and his family's subsequent increasing need for money, the bronzes were later sold through a friend of Duan Fang's family, John C. Ferguson, in 1924 and this famous and unique bronze ritual set is now a highlight of the Chinese collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. See: http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/76974 Duan Fang obviously viewed this altar set as the highlight of his collection as it is the first item illustrated in the catalogue of bronzes in his studio: 'Taozhai Jijin Lu' - published 1908. The set was known as the 'fanjin' or 'bianjin'. It would seem that Duan Fang had this woodblock print produced to commemorate the find - and to give as a gift to friends and fellow connoisseurs. Measures 95x90 cm - a very large production and probably done with a couple of separate woodblocks for ease of handling and production. Possibly printed by the Hankow Commission of Customs due to the seal on the reverse in English: 'Hankow Commissioner of Customs'. Print done in green ink presumably to resemble the patina of ancient bronzes. Only two other copies of the woodblock print are known to exist: one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one in the University of Nanjing Museum Library (source: Netting: Perpetual Fire). Extremely rare. Provenance: From the library of Professor William Watson. The print sold with two accompanying pamphlets, one bulletin and one book: 1. Pamphlet: Anonymous: Ancient Sacrificial Vessels - Bronze - Property of Tuan Fang. (Inscription in Chinese on anonymous pamphlet Gengyang Shangshu. Gengyang = Duan Fang's hometown (in Hebei?). Shangshu is an official title - refers to Duan Fang presumably. 2. Pamphlet: Ferguson: A Bronze Table with Accompanying Vessels. Peking. 1924. 3. Bulletin Metropolitan Museum of Art No. 2, 1973/1974. 4 pages illustrated and discuss the altar set including a photograph of Duan Fang with the altar set when found in 1901. 4. Book: Umehara Sueji: ETUDE ARCHEOLOGIQUE SUR LE PIEN-CHIN, OU SERIE DE BRONZES. Avec Une Table Pour l'Usage Rituel Dans la Chine Antique. 柉禁の考古學の考察 。 梅原末治 著. Memoire de Toho Bunka Gakuin, Vol. 2. Kyoto, 1933. v, 10 pp French text; iv, 53 pp. Japanese text. 29 plates, 14 text-figures. 31x25 cm. Cloth. A study of the 'pien-chin' (bianjin or fanjin in pinyin), the famous ritual altar table and set of bronzes discovered at Baoji Xian, Shaanxi, in 1901. The set very rapidly passed into the hands of the viceroy and collector, Duan Fang, and was sold by the dealer John C. Ferguson to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1924. Main text in Japanese, with a ten page summary in French. Extremely scarce. References: For Taozhai Jijin Lu catalogue of bronzes see: https://archive.org/details/02090838.cn Netting: A Perpetual Fire: John C. Ferguson's Quest for Chinese Art and Culture. pp. 136-9. Pamphlet: Ancient Sacrificial Vessels - Bronze - Property of Tuan Fang. Ferguson: A Bronze Table with Accompanying Vessels. Umehara: Etude Archeologique sur le Pien-Chin, ou Serie de Bronzes. Kyoto, 1933. Subjects: Woodcuts Bronzes Item 9 in List 209. URL for this record: hanshan.com/?c/DUAWP1.HTM Record produced by Hanshan Tang Books, www.hanshan.com. |