A RARE PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE RECTANGULAR BELT PLAQUES

WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)

Details

A RARE PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE RECTANGULAR BELT PLAQUES
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)
Each plaque is cast in openwork with two tortoises encircled by the twisted body of a dragon with an open mouth, and each has two vertical attachment loops on the reverse.
3 3/8 in. (8.7 cm.) long

Provenance

Acquired in Hong Kong prior to 1989.

Lot Essay

A similar gilt-bronze 'tortoises and dragon' belt plaque from the Calon da Collection 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, p. 158, no. 80. Compare, also, a pair of gold belt plaques with almost identical decoration, from the Dayunshan, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Arts of Asia, Hong Kong, May-June 2017, p. 130, no. 23.

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