Teapot with bronze vessel inscriptions,

1902

Teapot with a cylindrical body and spout. On the shoulder in line with the spout are two raised tabs with two perforations for the metal handles. On one side of the body is a 26-character inscription taken from a longer 31- character inscription on a bronze bo-bell (鎛鐘) from the early Warring States period tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng (Zenghou Yi 曾侯乙) in Suixian, Hubei province; incised and colored black. (See Zenghou Yi mu, ed. Hubei sheng bowuguan [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1989], vol. 1, p. 87, vol. 2, pl. 240). On the other side is an 23- or 22-character inscription (to be identified); incised and colored blue. At the back end opposite the spout is a large composite character; incised and colored red. Flanking the composite character is the artist's inscription, which is written in two columns, incised and colored red. The inscription notes that the characters were incised by Song Yan in the fourth month of 1902. There are also 12 characters (six on a side) of a poem or couplet by the artist Huang Tingjian (1045–1105) on the shoulder, incised and colored black. The lid is shaped like a flat bowl with a flat rim; four characters incised in black in the center (美在異中); unglazed bottom side.