WESTERN HAN DYNASTY, 3RD-2ND CENTURY BC

In his article, "Notes on the Archaeology of China", BMFEA 2, 1930, pp. 193-207, O. Karlbeck, discusses the 1929 discovery of a large tomb at Guweicun, Henan, in which a number of lacquered wood beams and twelve large bronze masks similar to the present mask were found. He illustrates one of these masks, which is in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, pl. VIII, and again in profile, p. 202, fig. 2, to show the thickness and shape of the bar projecting from the back. Three of the beams, now in the same museum, are also illustrated, pls. VII and VI, fig. 5, showing the smaller beam with bronze masks in position.

A very similar mask and ring handle is illustrated by A. Leth, Chinese Art in the Museum of Decorative Art Copenhagen, 1959, no. 22. Another with its ring, in the Malcolm Collection, is illustrated by W. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, pl. 88a. A similar mask in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han", BMFEA 13, 1941, pl. 4, fig. 1. A pair in the Royal Ontario Museum is illustrated by Bishop White, Tombs of Old Loyang, Shanghai, 1934, pl. XL, no. 103; and another pair is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Bronzes in the Hellström Collection", BMFEA 20, 1948, pl. 38 (1 a & b), only 1b still retaining its ring. Both of these latter pairs are said to be from the aforementioned tomb.