A RARE SMALL BRONZE CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER AND COVER

HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)

Details

A RARE SMALL BRONZE CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER AND COVER
HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 220)
The walls of the container chased and engraved with a mountainous landscape through which races a shaman-like figure wearing a winged cape, his hair swept back and his arms outstretched above the head of an attacking animal, while various other animals shown in twos are also seen confronted in combat, including a phoenix, the animals with engraved hair markings and the mountains with hatchured lines within raised outlines, all within engraved lozenge borders, the flat cover engraved with two snarling beasts also engaged in combat around the base of the ring finial, the sides with an upright dogtooth band, with some green and ferrous encrustation
4¼ in. (10.9 cm.) high

Provenance

Natanael Wessén Collection.

Literature

B. Karlgren, "Bronzes in the Wessén Collection", BMFEA, no. 30, Stockholm, 1958, pp. 177-96, pl. 36, no. 28.
B. Karlgren and J. Wirgin, "Chinese Bronzes: The Natanael Wessén Collection", Museum of Far Eastern Antiquites, Monograph Series, vol. 1, Stockholm, 1969, pp. 126-9, no. 34, pl. 47, and pl. 48 with line drawings from a very similar vessel in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities.
J. Rawson, "A Group of Han Dynasty Bronzes with Chased Decoration and Some Related Ceramics", Oriental Art, Winter 1973, no. 4, fig. 7.

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Lot Essay

According to Bernard Karlgren in "Bronzes in the Wessén Collection", BMFEA, vol. 30, Stockholm, 1958, p. 195, no. 28, two other very similar containers are in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, one originally in the collection of Anders Hellstrom and published by Karlgren, "Bronzes in the Hellstrom Collection", BMFEA, no. 20, Stockholm, 1948, pp. 1-38, pl. 43 (1), with a line drawing and a description on p. 24; and the other in the Sedgwick Collection. See, also, the similar container in the Musée Guimet, illustrated by C. Delacour, De bronze, d'or et d'argent: Arts somptuaires de la Chine, Paris, 2001, pp. 100-1.

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