Live Auction 2297Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections
TWO RARE GOLD MONSTER-MASK FITTINGS
Lot 1289

TWO RARE GOLD MONSTER-MASK FITTINGS

EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (770-256 BC)

Closed26 March 2010

Price Realised

USD 32,500

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TWO RARE GOLD MONSTER-MASK FITTINGS
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (770-256 BC)
Each cast in high relief as a taotie mask with incised and granulated decoration, one more in openwork with the short curved bodies of two dragons flanking the eyes below curved horns and outward-curved projections, the other, broader mask with curved tusks ending in pointed tips projecting either side of the nose
2¾ and 2 7/8 in. (7 and 7.3 cm.) wide
Wt. 35.7 and 36.7 g. (2)

A.W. Bahr Collection, Weybridge, England.
Edna Bahr, Connecticut, late 1960s.

Specialist note

A group of similar cast gold masks of varying sizes (2.9-8.3 cm. wide) dated to the Warring States period (475-221 BC) are illustrated in Celestial Creations: Art of the Chinese Goldsmith - The Cheng Xun Tang Collection - I- , Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007, p. 65, no. A30. The authors note that similar gold plaques have been recovered from tombs of the Spring and Autumn to Warring States periods in Baoji and Fengxiang, Shaanxi province.

A Technical Examination Report is available upon request.