LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD (4TH-3RD CENTURY BC)

Details

A CEREMONIAL BRONZE DRUM, CHUNYU
LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD (4TH-3RD CENTURY BC)
The drum is of rounded elliptical section, decorated on each side with a whorl motif flanked by mythical beasts. Bands of geometric scroll are softly cast encircling the flat base. A feline beast finial surmounts the upturned lip at the top of the drum. The bronze has a dark grey patina with light malachite and azurite encrustation.
13 9/16 in. (34.5 cm.) high

Provenance

With Rare Art, Inc., New York, before 14 January 1981.
From an important private European collection.

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Lot Essay

Two chunyu drums bearing a similar tiger figure on top, but with unornamented body are illustrated in J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections; New York & Washington, D.C., 1995, pp. 398-405. Another example is a Western Han tiger-mounted chunyu in the Shaanxi History Museum Collection, China, illustrated by Li Xixing in The Shaanxi Bronzes, Xi'an, 1994, p. 284.

A similar but larger late Warring States period chunyu drum sold at Christie's New York, 19-20 September 2013, lot 1457. Another example of a tiger-mounted chunyu with central whorl design is illustrated by E. von Erdberg in Chinese Bronzes from the Collection of Chester Dale and Dolly Carter, Switzerland, 1978, pp. 158-161, no. 90.
J. So explains that historical texts often describe the chunyu as a drum used for military purposes to signal to troops during battle. (Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, p. 399.)

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