HAN-SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY

Details

A SMALL RARE BRONZE CHIMERA-FORM VESSEL
HAN-SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY
The vessel is hollow cast as a powerful mythical beast (bixie) standing in a semi-crouch with head facing forward as it opens its mouth in a roar exposing the tongue, and the ears are pricked above backswept horns. The body is finely detailed with scales and hair markings on the whiskers, beard, mane, haunches and tripartite tail which is flicked to one side forming a loop above a small hole. A tubular holder is set behind the right foreleg and a tube projecting from the center of the back is fitted with a removable tube encircled by a narrow collar below the everted petals that surround the opening. There is malachite and azurite encrustation.
3 ½ in. (9 cm.) high

Provenance

Eskenazi Ltd., London, March 1998.
George S. Heyer, Jr. (1930-2015) Collection.

Literature

Eskenazi Ltd., Animals and Animal Designs in Chinese Art, New York, 1998, no. 13.

Exhibited

New York, Eskenazi Ltd., Animals and Animal Designs in Chinese Art, 24 March-4 April 1998.

Lot Essay

An almost identical vessel is illustrated by Bo Gyllensvärd, Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm, 1971, p. 45. Another similar example with a rider is illustrated by Ma Chengyuan (ed.), Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 343, pl. 123.

When published by Eskenazi, Animals and Animal Designs in Chinese Art, New York, 1998, the entry for this bronze, no. 8, noted that the exact purpose of these vessels is unclear. The entry proposes that the tube behind the foreleg might have held incense sticks, while the removable tube in the back might have held a wick for the oil stored in the body. The removable tube could also have been used as a dropper to draw up oil or other liquids stored in the body.

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