Lot Essay
Brilliant gold and silver-inlaid bronzes were popular and widely distributed in China in the Warring States period, or from the fifth through third centuries B.C. This method of bronze ornament was introduced in the preceding Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) when a diversification of style and technique in bronze manufacture arose. The artistic and technological advancements of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-206 B.C.) can be linked to the economic vitality and growing decentralization of political authority that characterized the times. The earliest metal-inlaid bronzes of the sixth century B.C. employed copper inlay with animal motifs that appear to derive from nomadic art traditions. Later, more abstract designs with curvilinear elements proved most popular with the Chinese. Gold and silver inlay, as well as copper, with colorful additions of turquoise, glass and even lacquer, made bronzes, previously significant chiefly for their political and religious associations, increasingly valued for their sumptuously decorative appeal as luxury items.
These two mounts would have been from a set of four. Another identical mount, which one must assume is from the same set, was included in the exhibition, Relics of Ancient China from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer, and illustrated by Max Loehr in the Catalogue, no. 71, where he states that "there are two nearly identical objects in this country, and a rather close example in the Stoclet collection". This latter example, illustrated by Visser, Asicatic Art in private collections of Holland and Belgium, New York and Amsterdam, 1948, pls. 63, 126, is also formed by confronted mythical beasts, but winged aÿnd with an arched crest rising from the top of the heads. The inlaid design of the upper bracket, however, is very similar to the offered examples. A pair of gilt-bronze corner brackets formed by two confronted mythical beasts of feline type, shown in a similar position, reputedly excavated from Jincun, Loyang, Henan province, and now in the Hakutsuri Bijutsukan, Kobe, were included in the exhibition, Arts of China's Warring States Period, Osaka City Museum, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 211, where another related mount formed by winged mythical beasts is also illustrated, no. 210
Compare also the silver inlay in very similar geometric style, on the magnificent bronze bianhu, in the Freer Gallery, Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, Washington, 1982, Catalogue no. 10. A similar type of silver inlay appears on a bronze tapir-like figure excavated in Lianshui, Jiangsu Province in 1965, Kaogu, 1973, no.2, pl.10X=1. Two more similar tapir-like creatures can also be seen in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, Ku-kung tung-ch'i t'u-lu, vol. 2, Taipei, 1958, 107, 212. See also the bronze and phoenix table of very elaborate design, inlaid with gold and silver, unearthed in 1978 in Pingshanxian, Hebei province, and now in the Hebei Provincial Museum, included in the exhibition, Gems of China's Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1990, Catalogue no. 69
Refer, also, the gold and silver inlaid corner support of bear form sold in these rooms, December 1, 1988, lot 147
These two mounts would have been from a set of four. Another identical mount, which one must assume is from the same set, was included in the exhibition, Relics of Ancient China from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer, and illustrated by Max Loehr in the Catalogue, no. 71, where he states that "there are two nearly identical objects in this country, and a rather close example in the Stoclet collection". This latter example, illustrated by Visser, Asicatic Art in private collections of Holland and Belgium, New York and Amsterdam, 1948, pls. 63, 126, is also formed by confronted mythical beasts, but winged aÿnd with an arched crest rising from the top of the heads. The inlaid design of the upper bracket, however, is very similar to the offered examples. A pair of gilt-bronze corner brackets formed by two confronted mythical beasts of feline type, shown in a similar position, reputedly excavated from Jincun, Loyang, Henan province, and now in the Hakutsuri Bijutsukan, Kobe, were included in the exhibition, Arts of China's Warring States Period, Osaka City Museum, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 211, where another related mount formed by winged mythical beasts is also illustrated, no. 210
Compare also the silver inlay in very similar geometric style, on the magnificent bronze bianhu, in the Freer Gallery, Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, Washington, 1982, Catalogue no. 10. A similar type of silver inlay appears on a bronze tapir-like figure excavated in Lianshui, Jiangsu Province in 1965, Kaogu, 1973, no.2, pl.10X=1. Two more similar tapir-like creatures can also be seen in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, Ku-kung tung-ch'i t'u-lu, vol. 2, Taipei, 1958, 107, 212. See also the bronze and phoenix table of very elaborate design, inlaid with gold and silver, unearthed in 1978 in Pingshanxian, Hebei province, and now in the Hebei Provincial Museum, included in the exhibition, Gems of China's Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1990, Catalogue no. 69
Refer, also, the gold and silver inlaid corner support of bear form sold in these rooms, December 1, 1988, lot 147