A RARE PAIR OF ARCHAIC GILT-BRONZE MASK AND RING HANDLES

WARRING STATES PERIOD

Details

A RARE PAIR OF ARCHAIC GILT-BRONZE MASK AND RING HANDLES
Warring States Period
Each well-cast taotie mask finely detailed and centered by a plump-faced humanoid figure pushing itself up between the brows and the horns of the mask, wearing what may be armor decorated with swirls and with its hair pulled up into a small topknot, the faceted loop at the base of the mask suspending a thin ring with beveled inner edge and tapering as it approaches the outer edge, with thick triangular pins projecting from the back of each mask, the gilded surface with green and azurite encrustation
7in. (19cm.) high overall, 4in. (12.1cm.) wide, stand (2)

Lot Essay

It is very unusual for bronze mask and ring handles of this type to incorporate humanoid figures in the mask escutcheon

Comparable examples without humanoid figures have been published, including a pair of large mask and ring handles dated to the Eastern Zhou period, included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Musuem of Art, 1990, illustrated by Rawson and Bunker in the Catalogue, no. 74; a single example, formerly in the collection of Dugald Malcolm, illustrated by William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 88; and another in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, included in the exhibition, Chinese Art, Venice, 1954, Catalogue, no. 80