TWO BRONZE BELT BUCKLES WITH CHAINS

6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

Details

TWO BRONZE BELT BUCKLES WITH CHAINS
6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
The plaque of one is cast in openwork as three animals, one a recumbent carnivore with head turned as it bites the tail of a smaller animal, a recumbent ungulate at the bottom suspending two linked chains. A small hook or tongue projects from one edge of the plaque and a button is on the reverse. The other buckle is cast as a crouching carnivore with a button on the reverse and linked chains suspended from a bar between the feet.
7 ¼ and 9 in. (18.5 and 23 cm.) long, first with lucite stand

Provenance

Buckle with three animals: Christie’s South Kensington, 5 June 1997, lot 152.
Buckle with carnivore: Dr. Ping Yiu Tam Collection, Hong Kong.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1993.
The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida.

Literature

Buckle with carnivore: J. Rawson and E. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 354-55, no. 231.

Lot Essay

A buckle similar to the first, from the Harris Collection, which is missing its chains, is illustrated by J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China’s Northern Frontier, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1995, pp. 172-73, no. 99.

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