Page 46 - March 16, 2017 Chinese Art, The Harris Collection, Christies

838
TWO BRONZE BELT BUCKLES WITH
CHAINS

6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

The plaque of one is cast in openwork as
three animals, one a recumbent carnivore
with head turned as it bites the tail of a
smaller animal, a recumbent ungulate
at the bottom suspending two linked
chains. A small hook or tongue projects
from one edge of the plaque and a button
is on the reverse. The other buckle is cast
as a crouching carnivore with a button on
the reverse and linked chains suspended
from a bar between the feet.
7º and 9 in. (18.5 and 23 cm.) long, frst
with lucite stand

(2)

$3,000-5,000

PROVENANCE

Buckle with three animals: Christie’s
South Kensington, 5 June 1997, lot 152.
Buckle with carnivore: Dr. Ping Yiu Tam
Collection, Hong Kong.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1993.
The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami,
Florida.

LITERATURE

Buckle with carnivore: J. Rawson and
E. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos
Bronzes, Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong
Kong, 1990, p. 354-55, no. 231.

A buckle similar to the frst, from the
Harris Collection, which is missing
its chains, 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, pp. 172-73, no.
99.

公元前六至五世紀 青銅帶鏈帶扣
兩件

44 THE HARRIS COLLECTION:
IMPORTANT EARLY CHINESE ART