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A RARE BRONZE 'BEAR AND EAGLE' TUNING KEY

HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-220 AD)

Details
A RARE BRONZE 'BEAR AND EAGLE' TUNING KEY
HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-220 AD)
Finely cast as a bear and an eagle top a narrow rod terminating in a hollowed base square section base, with some green encrustation
3¾ in. (9.5 cm.) long
Provenance
Ernest Erickson Collection.
Private UK Collection since 1989.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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Lot Essay

Not until the excavation of bronze tuning keys together with a set of tuning pegs for a Chinese qin, from the 2nd century BC tomb of the king of Nanyue in Guangzhou, Guandong province in 1983, was the function of objects of this type understood. Keys of this type were used to tighten the pegs on which the strings of a qin are wound.

The combination of eagle (ying) and bear (xiong) provides a rebus for yingxiong, meaning champion or hero.
Of the published examples all are surmounted by an animal or bird. Several other tuning keys surmounted by a bear have been published: one in the collection of Dr. Paul Singer is illustrated by M. Loehr, Relics of Ancient China, Asia Society, New York, 1965, no. 112; one in Sammlung Baron Eduard von der Heydt, Wien, 1936, no. 103; one with a patterned body in the exhibition catalogue, Ancient China: Music & Ritual, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 20 March-7 April 2001, no. 12

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