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Lot Essay
This very rare figure with bovine head appears to be related to the bronze figure of a tapir-like quadruped, in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by T. Lawton in Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, Washington, DC, 1982, pp. 78-79, no. 36. The Freer quadruped is dated Late Spring and Autumn-early Warring States periods, 5th century BC. It is very close in size to the present beast (L. 17 3/16 in.), and the decoration of the body is very similar, with scales on the chest, intertwined striated scrolls on the haunches, and a pebbled pattern on the mid-section and head. Rather than a cowrie-shell band around the neck, the present figure has one either side of the wide pebbled band around the mid-section. The eyes, too, are very similar, as is the solid foursquare stance.
The exact use of these animals is not known, but a figure very similar to the Freer example in both decoration and size was excavated from tomb 126, at Fenshuiling, Changzhi, Shanxi province in 1965. Unlike the Freer figure the back is socketed to hold the support of a stem dish held by a standing figure. Other similar tapir-like figures are also seen as the corner supports of a fang pan unearthed from Shanxi Lucheng Luhe, illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1995, p. 37, fig. 47. And a smaller solid-cast figure of this type (L. 7½ in.) included in the exhibition, Early Dynastic China, Works of Art from Shang to Song, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, March-April 1996, no. 47, has a pair of taotie masks cast in high relief joined by a loop and loose ring handle on the back. The large rectangular aperture that pierces the body of the present figure suggests that it functioned as a support, perhaps in conjunction with three other similar figures.
J. So proposes, op.cit., p. 37, that based on their decoration, all of these animal figures appear to have been made at the Warring States foundry at Houma, Shanxi province, as mold fragments for casting an animal like the one in the Freer have been found there. As the decoration on the present figure is so very similar it must also have been made at the Houma foundry.
The exact use of these animals is not known, but a figure very similar to the Freer example in both decoration and size was excavated from tomb 126, at Fenshuiling, Changzhi, Shanxi province in 1965. Unlike the Freer figure the back is socketed to hold the support of a stem dish held by a standing figure. Other similar tapir-like figures are also seen as the corner supports of a fang pan unearthed from Shanxi Lucheng Luhe, illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1995, p. 37, fig. 47. And a smaller solid-cast figure of this type (L. 7½ in.) included in the exhibition, Early Dynastic China, Works of Art from Shang to Song, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, March-April 1996, no. 47, has a pair of taotie masks cast in high relief joined by a loop and loose ring handle on the back. The large rectangular aperture that pierces the body of the present figure suggests that it functioned as a support, perhaps in conjunction with three other similar figures.
J. So proposes, op.cit., p. 37, that based on their decoration, all of these animal figures appear to have been made at the Warring States foundry at Houma, Shanxi province, as mold fragments for casting an animal like the one in the Freer have been found there. As the decoration on the present figure is so very similar it must also have been made at the Houma foundry.