A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FERRULE

WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 BC)

Details

A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FERRULE
Warring States period (475-221 BC)
Hollow cast, one end a tapering oblong cast with a small bird grasped in the jaws of a dragon head projecting from the front edge, the center section cast on two sides as a recumbent dragon shown in profile, the other end faceted and in the form of an animal leg with protruding fetlock and rounded tip, all inlaid in silver with scroll designs
4 5/8in. (11.2cm.) high, box

Exhibited

Chugoku sengoku jidai no bijutsu (The Art of the Warring States Period), Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1991, no. 123.

Lot Essay

Fittings of this type served as butt-ends to the wood or bamboo shafts of bronze halberds or spears. For a description of these weapons and the purpose of the ferrule, beyond that of pure decoration, see Miho Museum; South Wing, 1997, p. 199, for the entry of no. 98, a silver and gold-inlaid bronze ferrule.

A related silver-inlaid ferrule is illustrated in the same exhibition catalogue where the present ferrule is illustrated. See Chugoku sengoku jidai no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1991, p. 92, no. 122.

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