NORTHERN CHINA, CIRCA 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

Details

A GROUP OF SIX SMALL BRONZE ANIMAL ORNAMENTS
NORTHERN CHINA, CIRCA 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
The group includes three rectangular garment plaques cast in openwork: one with two pairs of recumbent wild asses with backward-turned heads, one with three horses standing in profile, and one with four recumbent ibex or rams facing in opposite directions; a bear-head mask cast in high relief, with hollow eyes and a loop between the ears; a circular ornament cast in openwork as a coiled animal within a pierced border, with an angular loop on the reverse; and a bovine mask cast in high relief, with two small holes for attachment.
1 3/8 to 2 in. (3.4 to 5 cm.) high

Provenance

Plaque with wild asses: The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1995.
Plaque with horses: The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1995.
Plaque with rams or ibex: Private collection, Michigan.
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, 4 November 1978, lot 266.
Bear-head mask: The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1991.
Circular ornament: acquired in Paris, 1996.
Bovine mask: The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida, by 1995.
All: The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida.

Lot Essay

Bronze ornaments similar to the three rectangular plaques, the circular ornament and the bovine mask are illustrated by E. C. Bunker et al., Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1997: p. 198 (nos. 131 and 132), p. 199 (no. 133), p. 195 (no. 125), and p. 291 (no. 266), the bovine mask, respectively. The bovine mask is dated 1st millennium BC.

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