AN UNUSUAL BRONZE FELINE-FORM WEIGHT

EASTERN ZHOU-HAN DYNASTY, 5TH CENTURY BC-3RD CENTURY AD

Details

AN UNUSUAL BRONZE FELINE-FORM WEIGHT
EASTERN ZHOU-HAN DYNASTY, 5TH CENTURY BC-3RD CENTURY AD
The figure is finely cast in the round in a coiled position with the legs realistically rendered and the body softly rounded. There is a soft brown patina and there are tiny patches of encrustation.
2 ¼ in. (5.7 cm.) across

Provenance

The Falk Collection, New York, before 1970.
The Falk Collection I; Christie's New York, 16 October 2001, lot 192.
The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida.

Literature

E. C. Bunker et al., "Animal Style" Art from East to West, The Asia Society, New York, 1970, p. 92, no. 67.

Lot Essay

The mate to this weight, which has been described as a sleeve weight, is illustrated by S. H. Hansford, Chinese Central Asian and Luristan Bronzes and Chinese Jades and Sculpture: The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art, London, 1957, vol. I, pl. XLVIII (A103). Compare the very similar gilt-bronze coiled feline, dated Eastern Zhou, 4th-3rd century BC, illustrated by J. Wirgin (ed.) in The Ernest Erickson Collection in Swedish Museums, Stockholm, 1989, p. 41, no. 39, where the present figure is cited. The design is compared to Scythian antecedents, especially the coiled feline body, and the rendering of the mouth and round eyes.

More from The Harris Collection: Important Early Chinese Art

View All