AN UNUSUAL GILT-BRONZE OPENWORK BRUSH HANDLE

WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)

Details

AN UNUSUAL GILT-BRONZE OPENWORK BRUSH HANDLE
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)
Cast in openwork with a winged mythical beast attacking a tiger beneath a triumphant dragon with raised head, all covered in gold leaf and set atop a narrow rectangular socket decorated with scroll motifs within line borders
3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in Hong Kong, 1992.

Exhibited

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006.

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Lot Essay

A very similar brush handle, containing remnants of bristles found in a Western Han tomb at Shuoxian, Shanxi province, is illustrated in Wenwu, 1987:6, pl. 7.3, along with a drawing of the tomb, fig. 1, p. 54, and is referred to as a shuabing, a brush used for scrubbing or cleaning.

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