164. RARE PETIT RÉCIPIENT ARCHAÏSANT EN BRONZE INCRUSTÉ XVIIe/XVIIIe siècle A RARE SMALL ARCHAISTIC GOLD AND SILVER INLAID BRONZE TWIN-BIRD WATER DROPPER 17th/18th century Finely cast as a pair of conjoined twin birds, with mouths open and beaks oriented skyward, the heads detailed with brows, round eyes, crest plumes, and ears, with two wings each inlaid with sweeping gold and silver feathers and a single tail pointing downwards from the inlaid feathered body. 7.2cm (2 7/8in) high. 十七/十八世紀 銅錯金銀仿古雙鳳水滴 Provenance: Bonhams London, 15 May 2014, lot 386 來源： 倫敦邦翰斯，2014年5月15日，編號386 Renewed appreciation for archaic bronzes in the Song dynasty led to the manufacture of silver and gold-inlaid archaistic vessels, many of them assuming zoomorph forms. Birds, such as rendered in this exquisitely cast vessel, are known as tianji in Chinese, literally meaning heavenly fowl, but often translated as phoenix, have a long history of being cast in bronze, compare two Ming dynasty examples in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Through the Prism of the Past, Taipei, 2003, cat.nos.III-42 and III-43. Double tianji such as the present vessel are relatively rare. A related vessel formerly in the collection of Henri Cernuschi, now in the collection of the Musée Cernuschi, Paris, was included in the exhibition Bronzes de la Chine Imperiale: des Song aux Qing, Paris, 2013, cat.no.46. A gold and silver-inlaid bronze vessel of the same form, from the collection of Mrs. Walter Sedgwick, was sold at Sotheby's London, 2 July 1968, lot 17. Other related examples include: one from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, exhibited in Early Chinese Miniatures, New York, 1977, cat.no.222, and sold at Christie's New York, 1 December 1994, lot 70, attributed to the Song or Ming dynasty.