A RARE BRONZE 'BUDDHIST LIONS' ARROW VASE, TOUHU Song/Yuan DynastyA RARE BRONZE 'BUDDHIST LIONS' ARROW VASE, TOUHUSong/Yuan DynastyCast with a compressed globular body rising from a spreading foot cast with a band of stylised lotus petals and surmounted by a tall cylindrical neck, the shoulder cast with scrolling lotus, all below four Buddhist lions playing with brocade balls in high relief, a pair of tubular lug handles flanking the upper part of the neck with archaistic hexagonal pattern, the bronze patinated to a warm coppery-brown colour. 39cm (15 3/8in) high, 3.7kg.宋/元 銅四獅戲球雙耳投壺Provenance:Gardiners, Kilbarchan, 16 September 1991The Brian Harkins Collection來源：1991年9月16日購於蘇格蘭基爾巴亨Gardiners布萊恩·哈金斯珍藏The globular body and tall foot of the present vase are both unusual designs compared with the more typical arrow vases cast with a compressed body and a wide spreading foot. Compare with a Yuan to early Ming dynasty bronze vase, with a similar globular body raised from a similar tall foot, in the Tokugawa Art Museum, Japan, illustrated by D.Failla, Food for the Ancestors, Flowers for the Gods, 2017, p.307, fig.5.壺口薄唇，兩側鑄較小貫耳，其上鏨刻龜背紋錦地，壺頸鑄高浮雕雙獅戲球兩組，肩部內層飾浮雕蓮瓣紋，外層陰刻連枝蓮紋一周，圓鼓腹，光素無紋，束腰飾浮雕蓮瓣紋一周，高圈足。此壺圓鼓腹及高圈足之器型有別於多數常見之投壺，常見器型多為扁圓腹，圈足外撇成喇叭形。此類器型，似乎更常見於花插，參考一件日本德川美術館藏元/明銅壺，其圓鼓腹，高圈足與本件類似，見Donatella Failla編，《Food for the Ancestors Flowers for the Gods》，熱那亞，2017年，頁307，編號5。