A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE BIRD-FORM FINIAL

WARRING STATES PERIOD

Details
A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE BIRD-FORM FINIAL
Warring States Period
Cast in a recumbent position with legs tucked beneath the body on either side of the open base, the head turned completely backwards so that the curved neck and open beak form loops, the body inlaid in silver sheet and wire with a pattern of feathers; together with a miniature bronze figure of a foreigner, Tang dynasty, the bearded figure with his hair tied up in a topknot shown standing on a narrow base raised on a truncated pin, holding a ball in his raised left hand, the right hand held in a fist and pierced, wearing a breechcloth and a cloth tied diagonally around his torso
2in. (7cm.) long; 2.5/8in. (6.7cm.) high, boxes (2)

Lot Essay

For two other small silver-inlaid bronze bird-form finials of this type see the Catalogue for the exhibition, Chugoku sengoku jidai no bijutsu (The Art of the Warring States Period), Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1991, p. 96, nos. 131 and 132