Page 108 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

tanding proudly and in all its splendor,
this figure of a peacock is extremely
Srare for its superb casting and exquisite
decoration. The flamboyant plumage, elongated
neck raised high, finely sculpted head and gold
and silver detailing lend this piece a luxurious and
rich countenance unrivalled by other bird figures
from the Han dynasty.

Peacocks were exotic creatures from the south
and as they first appear in Chinese literature
in the third century BC, their occurrence may
represent southern tributes to the Han dynasty
court from those days, see Edward Schafer,
The Vermillion Bird, Berkeley, 1967, pp. 236-37.
The present figure resembles a male peafowl
of Asian species characterized by their eye-
spotted tail and extravagant plumage. Peacocks
were not merely popular as decorative motifs
but represented auspicious omens (xiangrui),
embodying the concern for the afterlife
particularly prevalent during the Han dynasty.

Very few bird figures may be closely compared to
the present piece. Of similar bearing, but smaller
in size and lacking the gold-and-silver decoration,
is a gilt-bronze peacock with turquoise inlay,
illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé,
Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the
Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum
of San Francisco, San Francisco, 1974, no. 16,
where three gilt-bronze peacocks are mentioned,
with turquoise inlay, less flamboyant, excavated
from an Eastern Han tomb near Dingxian, Hebei
province.

本品孔雀，站姿凜然，富麗華美，鑄造精煉，裝飾細
緻，極為罕有。其羽飾瑰麗，引頸仰望，連精雕鳥首
與金銀細節，賦予本品華貴之氣，在漢代相類造像
中，無出其右者。
孔雀乃南方異物，時公元前三世紀，才載於文學
典籍，化身為南方向漢朝皇宮進貢之象徵，參見
Edward Schafer著，《The Vermillion Bird》，
柏克萊，1967年，頁236-37。本品與一亞洲品種
雄性孔雀相似，尾羽斑斕，羽毛豔麗。孔雀紋飾風行
一時，象徵祥瑞，見世人對來世之憂，於漢代蔚然成
風。

與本品媲美者寥寥無幾。一尊銅鎏金孔雀，內嵌綠松
石，與本品造型相似，惟尺寸較小，無金銀飾，圖載
於René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé，《Chinese,
Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery

106 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II