Page 30 - March 16, 2017 Chinese Art, The Harris Collection, Christies

818
A VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT BRONZE HORSE HARNESS FRONTLET
NORTHWEST CHINA, 6TH CENTURY BC
The harness ftting is well cast in relief as a stylized bovine head with a broad nose
below deep, curved grooves that frame the almond-shaped eyes and lead to the small
heart-shaped ears below the upswept horns that curve outward at the tips. Two
horizontal attachment loops are next to each other in the center of the plain reverse.
The front has a smooth, mottled reddish-brown patina.
8º in. (21 cm.) wide, stand

$150,000-250,000

PROVENANCE

J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 16 December 1993.
The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida.

LITERATURE

J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China’s Northern Frontier, Washington
D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1995, p. 118, no. 33, and p. 45, col. pl. 8.
S. Melikian, “Masterpieces of a Mysterious Culture,” International Herald Tribune, 20
January 1996, p. 8.
F. Salviati, “Archaeology on China’s Northern Frontier,” Minerva, July/August 1996, p.
24, fg. 5.

Bronze animal mask fttings for horse harnesses are seen as early as the late Shang
and Western Zhou periods. Several of these are illustrated by Cheng Dong and Zhong
Shao-yi, Ancient Chinese Weapons - A Collection of Pictures, Beijing, 1990, p. 38, pl.
2-81, a bovine mask, p. 41, pl. 2-94, a humanoid face, and p. 62, pls. 3-59 (a bovine
mask) and 3-60 (a humanoid mask). All of these were meant to frighten and have
more simplifed shapes and are lacking the graceful lines of the present mask. The
deep curving grooves that follow the contours of the mask can also be seen on a pair
of bronze plaques of a tiger with its kulan prey, dated to the 6th – 5th century BC, in
the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Gallery, Kansas City, illustrated by E. C. Bunker et
al., “Animal Style” Art from East to West, The Asia Society, 1970, p. 115, pl. 84, where
they are ascribed to Inner Mongolia. Curved grooves similar to those of the present
mask accentuate the various areas of the tigers’ bodies, as well as their heads, in a
manner very similar to that found on the mask. A pair of gold tiger plaques worked
in the same groove-band style, was excavated from Ahluchaideng in Inner Mongolia,
a site where mostly Warring States material was found, and is illustrated by Tian
Guangjin and Guo Suxin in Ordos Bronzeware, Beijing, 1986, col. pl. 5. The shape of
the eyes also appears similar. And the small heart-shaped ears are similar in shape to
the tiny ear on a Liyu-style bird-shaped zun in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by
T. Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, Washington, 1982, pp. 30-31, no.
3. The same tiny ear can be seen on a small bovine head from Fenshuiling, Changzhi
Xian, Shanxi province, illustrated in Kaogu xuebao, 1974.2, pl. 5.3.

公元前六世紀 中國西北部 青銅獸面

28 THE HARRIS COLLECTION:
IMPORTANT EARLY CHINESE ART