Page 102 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

225 A RARE GILT-BRONZE BELT HOOK
WARRING STATES PERIOD - HAN DYNASTY
戰國至漢 銅鎏金獸紋帶鉤

finely cast to the slightly arched top in high relief with a pair of addorsed creatures, their entwined bodies terminating in
doe-like animal heads, one rendered with a long curled trunk issuing from its upturned snout forming the hook, the concave
underside with a circular button

Length 3½ in., 8.8 cm
$ 15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

While several related gilt-bronze belt hooks with a similarly styled design are published, the present lot is notable
for its hook in the form of a curled elephant trunk, a very distinctive feature which makes it particularly rare. See a
gilt-bronze belt hook of a similar size, modeled with the more typical animal-head hook, decorated in the same level
of intricacy with two similar animal heads and complex entwined bodies in between, illustrated in Bernhard Karlgren,
‘Chinese Agraffes in Two Swedish Collections’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 37, Stockholm,
1965, pl. 55, no. N2W; another, sold in our London rooms, 11th July 1972, lot 194.

Compare two larger examples with animal-head hooks, each cast with two similar animal masks, but flanking two
serpentine dragons, similarly depicted with their bodies entwined, one sold in our London rooms, 11th December
1979, lot 5, and the other sold in these rooms, 7th December 1983, lot 70. See also a gilt-bronze belt hook cast with
two dragons attacking each other with their bodies curled and interlaced, sold in our London rooms, 11th July 1972,
lot 193.

風格相近之銅鎏金帶鉤可參考數例，唯本品鉤部為象鼻紋 比較兩件獸首帶鉤例，尺寸較大，各飾兩獸首，中間飾兩
飾，非常獨特且稀少。比較一例，尺寸相近，飾較典型 龍互相纏繞，其一售於倫敦蘇富比1979年12月11日，編號
之獸首，與本品同樣細緻，刻劃兩獸首及獸身交纏，圖 5，其二售於紐約蘇富比1983年12月7日，編號 70。 另比
見於Bernhard Karlgren，〈Chinese Agraffes in Two 一例，兩龍鏖鬥，龍身交纏，售於倫敦蘇富比1972年7月
Swedish Collections〉，《Bulletin of the Museum of 11日， 編號193。
Far Eastern Antiquities》，編號37，斯德哥爾摩，1965
年，圖版55，編號N2W；另一例售於倫敦蘇富比1972年7
月11日，編號194。

100 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II