SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY BC

Details

A RARE AND IMPORTANT GOLD 'FELINE-HEAD' FINIAL
SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY BC
The finial is finely cast and engraved as a feline head with a large snarling mouth below the glaring eyes with scrolling brows and heart-shaped eyes. The tube is pierced to both sides between two bands of imitation-granulation borders.
1 ¼ in. (3.2cm.) high, weight 34.1g

Provenance

Collection of C.T. Loo (1881-1957), New York, acquired prior to 1957.
Western Private Collection.
Wih Roger Keverne, London, 2008.

Literature

Roger Keverne, Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics Summer Exhibition, London, 2008, cat. no. 5.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The present finial may be compared to the virtually identical gold finial from the Dr Johan Carl Kempe Collection (1884-1967), sold at Christie's New York, Masterpieces of Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 12 September 2019, lot 512. On both finials, the narrow bands of dots that highlight the various features and form the borders of the two bands of scrolls encircling the tubular neck appear to be imitating the granulation technique which was introduced into China from the Near East. That type of granulation was created by diffusion bonding tiny gold spheres to the surface. The type of imitation granulation that decorates these finials can also be seen on two other pieces of Spring and Autumn date (770-475 BC) illustrated by Carol Michaelson in Gilded Dragons: Buried Treasures from China's Golden Ages, British Museum, 1999: one a small gold garment hook with duck-head hook excavated in 1992 at Yimen village, Baoji, Shaanxi province, p. 27, no. 5 (left), the other the turquoise-inlaid gold hilt of an iron sword, p. 31, no. 9, from the same excavation.

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