A RARE TOAD-SHAPED BRONZE FLASK

Estimated Value:

800 € - 1.200 €

Result:

3.885 € incl. Premium and VAT

Description:

China, Ming dynasty or later
H. 20,1 cm
These types of bronze flasks with a pewterlike surface are used by Tibetans as canteens for beer or water. Leather straps inserted through two rings attached to the sides and apertures on the foot indicate how it was transported. The form of the flask can be traced to ceramic pilgrimage flasks used in China (Fontein and Wu 1973, nos. 71, 77). The Tibetans may have become familiar with them during their prolonged presence in Central Asia during the Tang dynasty. These metal flasks continue a form encountered in Chinese ceramic ware. These examples are distinguished by the imaginative integration of the form of a frog or a toad to that of the flask. Despite the stylization of the creature's features and introduction of religious symbols, the rendering of the toad is realistic. Tiny dots on the toad's head, back, and legs delineate the texture of the creature's skin but the belly is left plain. Other anatomical features on the back are suggested by the recessed channels and the fluting with circles and pearl motifs. 'The toad and frog are aquatic creatures and hence their association with a canteen for liquids is appropriate. They are familiar in China as ancient fertility symbols and are frequently used in Southeast Asian rain drums. Toads and frogs are also closely associated with rain, their croaking being harbingers of monsoons. Thus the object defily coalesces form, function, and symbolism.
Collection Christian Roll (1915-2007), Munich, by repute collected in Hong Kong in the 1960's
A very similar frog-shaped vessel or flask is preserved in the collection of the Palace Museum Beijing and published ‚Bronze Articles for Daily Use - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum‘, Hongkong 2006, no. 190, p. 213 - Wear, base plate old replaced

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