Page 67 - March 16, 2017 Chinese Art, The Harris Collection, Christies

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A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE
RECTANGULAR BELT PLAQUES

NORTH CHINA, 2ND CENTURY BC

Each is cast in openwork with two
confronted Bactrian camels nibbling on
leafy branches that extend from their
mouths to their rear haunches. Between
them at the bottom is the head of a feline,
and the whole scene is within a braided
rope border. Two squared loops are
attached to the slightly concave reverse.
3Ω in. (9 cm.) wide

(2)

$4,000-6,000

PROVENANCE

J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 17 February
1990.
The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami,
Florida.

Compare the similar pair of gilt-bronze
plaques illustrated by E. C. Bunker et
al., Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian
Steppes, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 2002, p. 109, no. 79, where the
camels are described as fanking an
Asian elm tree. As with the present
plaques, there are two vertically
arranged loops on the reverse of each
which bears impressions of a coarse
fabric used in the lost wax/lost textile
method of manufacture.

公元前二世紀 中國北部 鎏金銅駱
駝紋飾牌一對

Rubbing by Li Zhi (李穉拓) (rubbing)

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