A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE BELT PLAQUES

EASTERN EURASIAN STEPPES, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC

Details

A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE BELT PLAQUES
EASTERN EURASIAN STEPPES, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC
Each rectangular plaque is cast in openwork with two stallions in combat, one being bitten on the neck and the other on the leg. An outdoor setting is implied by leaves along the upper edge. Each has two tiny horizontal attachment loops on the reverse.
2 in. (5.2 cm.) wide

Provenance

The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1995.

Literature

J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier, Washington D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1995, p. 95, no. 8.

Lot Essay

Similar plaques have been found at a wide range of sites associated with the Xiongnu all over the eastern Eurasian steppes, reflecting the expansion of the Xiongnu empire, including in northwest China at Daodunzi, Tongxin Xian, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where they were found with Han dynasty wuzhu coins which were not minted before 118 BC. A similar gilt-bronze plaque is illustrated in Chugoku Sengoku jidai no bijuitsu (The Art of the Warring States Period) Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1991, p. 149, no. 248.

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