CHINE, DYNASTIE MING, DATEE DU PREMIER MOIS DE L'ANNEE CYCLIQUE YIWEI, CORRESPONDANT A 1499 ET EPOQUE HONGZHI

Details

RARE ET IMPORTANTE CLOCHE EN BRONZE DORE
CHINE, DYNASTIE MING, DATEE DU PREMIER MOIS DE L'ANNEE CYCLIQUE YIWEI, CORRESPONDANT A 1499 ET EPOQUE HONGZHI
L'extérieur est orné de masques de taotie archaisants finement incisés dans les deux registres principaux. Le pourtour de la section inférieure est à décor de Bagua, les Huit trigrammes, la partie supérieure d'une bande de pétales stylisés. La prise est finement moulée formant un dragon Pulao à double tête. La bordure inférieure porte la marque datée dans un cartouche rectangulaire, Da Ming Hongzhi yiwei nian mengchun jiri zhi (fait un jour propice au premier mois du printemps de l'année de yiwei sous le règne de l'empereur Hongzhi).
Hauteur: 43,5 cm. (17 1⁄8 in.)
Largeur: 29,2 cm. (11 1⁄2 in.)

Provenance

Previously from a German diplomatic family, acquired in China in the early 20th century.

Special notice

ƒ: In addition to the regular Buyer’s premium, a commission of 5.5% inclusive of VAT of the hammer price will be charged to the buyer. It will be refunded to the Buyer upon proof of export of the lot outside the European Union within the legal time limit. (Please refer to section VAT refunds) This item will be transferred to an offsite warehouse after the sale. Please refer to department for information about storage charges and collection details.

Further details

A RARE AND IMPORTANT GILT-BRONZE 'TAOTIE' BELL
CHINA, MING DYNASTY, HONGZHI PERIOD, WITH CYCLICAL DATE OF THE FIRST MONTH OF YIWEI YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1499 AND OF THE PERIOD

Brought to you by

Tiphaine Nicoul Head of department

tnicoul@christies.com +33 (0)1 40 76 83 75

Lot Essay

This present Hongzhi gilt-bronze bell is extremely rare and could possibly be the only existing gilt-bronze example of such a large size and with a dated mark. See another gilt-bronze bell, with almost the identical decoration and the same Hongzhi mark, measuring 27 cm high from the Suminoto collection (Osaka), purchased in July 1901 from Yamanaka Shunkodo, and today in the collection of the Sen-oku Hakuko Kan in Kyoto.
The only other dated Hongzhi bell bearing the same cyclical date, measuring 30.5 cm high, from the Anita Baldwin (1876-1939) Collection, was sold in Christie's New York, 25 September 2020, lot 1539.

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