Page 398 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

Detail 364 † Y

Reverse A very rare ivory belt-hook
394 | Bonhams 15th/ early 16th century
The creamy ivory carved as a belt-hook with the head of a grinning
mythical beast with thickly curling mane between the long curving
horns, the shaft carved with the head of a three-clawed dragon
with the body appearing to dissolve into an abundance of scrolls,
the underside of the belt-hook with a circular hollow containing a
humanoid reptile-like shaped fitting above a ruyi-head at the base and
beneath a three-clawed dragon’s foot beneath richly-curling foliate
scrolls along the shaft, the end of the belt-hook also hollowed to form
the gaping mouth of a fish or sea creature.
14cm (5 1/2in) long
£20,000 - 30,000
HK$240,000 - 350,000 CNY190,000 - 280,000

十五/十六世紀早期 象牙雕龍紋帶鉤

Radiocarbon dating results by RCD RadioCarbon Dating, UK, confirms
95.4% confidence interval for date of AD 1445 to AD 1525 (61.7%)
and AD 1558 to AD 1632 (33.7%).

英國RCD RadioCarbon Dating的放射性碳檢測結果確定95.4%機率介
於公元1445至1525年(61.7%)及公元1558至1632年(33.7%)。

The powerfully carved dragon with its furcated tail stylistically
resembles those of dragons painted on blue and white porcelain of
the Chenghua period; see for example a blue and white stem bowl
with a kui dragon in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and
White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, pl.28.

The remarkable craftmanship of the present buckle is also apparent
in its rare innovative practical design, meant for the belt string to be
drawn through the gaping mouth of the fish reaching the elegantly
concealed knob within the hollowed buckle.