A GILT-BRONZE BIRD-FORM FINIAL

HAN DYNASTY (206 BC - AD 220)

Details

A GILT-BRONZE BIRD-FORM FINIAL
HAN DYNASTY (206 BC - AD 220)
Cast as a bird seated atop a tubular socket, its long neck and head turned backwards towards the fan-shaped tail, the plumage represented by incised lines; together with a small silver bird-form finial, Han dynasty, cast as a recumbent bird with backward-turned head and simplified wings and tail; and a silver tortoise-form seal, Han dynasty, cast as a tortoise standing atop a square seal, the base cut with four archaic seal characters
2¾, 2 1/8 and 1 in. (7, 5.4 and 2.5 cm.) across, one stand (3)

Provenance

All three: Christie's, New York, 3 June 1993, lots 135, 136 and 137 respectively.

Lot Essay

Compare the silver tortoise-form seal with differently marked carapace unearthed in Yichuan county, Henan province, 1970, included in the exhibition, Treasures from the Han, Empress Place, Singapore, 1990, p. 42.

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