Page 120 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

231 AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF A DRAGON
LIAO / JIN DYNASTY
遼 / 金 銅坐龍

marvelously cast seated on three powerful legs, its right forepaw raised and holding a ‘flaming pearl’ in its claw, its ferocious
head detailed with a pair of long curled horns above large protruding eyes and a long upturned snout exposing sharp fangs
and a curled tongue, the scaly body sinuously curved with long flowing flames issuing from its shoulders and saw-tooth dorsal
fin extending down its spine trailing to a upturned curving tail, the underside with two small square apertures, the surface with
malachite and azure encrustation, traces of gilt

Height 3¾ in., 9.5 cm
$ 50,000-70,000

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

The most intriguing feature of the present dragon is its distinctive posture. Vigorously portrayed in a seated position
holding a ‘flaming pearl’ in its claw, the present lot is an unparalleled example which translates the majestic nature
of the mighty dragon into an expressive visual art form. While a small group of related dragons are known in seated
position, the present dragon is an extremely rare example of this type, as only one close counterpart of a slightly
smaller size appears to be recorded, which was sold in these rooms, 26th February 1982, lot 267.

The earliest known dragon in seated form is a larger bronze example from the Tang dynasty, excavated from the
tomb of Shi Siming (703-761), one of the two Tang dynasty generals responsible for the Anshi Rebellion, in Fengtai
district, Beijing, exhibited in Common History of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, Capital Museum, Beijing, 2015, p. 158.
Although related in form, the excavated Tang dragon is cast move simplistically, its tail curled under its rear leg and
extending upward on its side, with differing from the present dragon. See also a gilt-bronze seated dragon, attributed
to late Eastern Han to Six Dynasties, rather similar to the previous example, and also depicted with the tail curled
upward from its side, which may suggest a possible Tang dynasty re-attribution, exhibited in Inlaid Bronze and
Related Material from Pre-Tang China, Eskenazi, London, 1991, cat. no. 57.

本品銅龍，呈坐姿，前爪握珠，龍鬃上揚，昂首挺胸，盡顯 年，頁158。雖然此唐代坐龍氣勢非凡，但與本品坐龍相比
雄偉氣勢，存世坐龍寥見數例，而本品尤罕，目前僅知另一 細節更為簡單，其龍尾穿於兩後腿之間並於身體一側向上捲
尺寸較小例，與本品極似，售於紐約蘇富比1982年2月26 翹，亦與本品龍尾有別。另可見一銅鎏金坐龍，斷代東漢晚
日，編號267。 期至六朝，但與上述唐代坐龍風格相似，龍尾亦同樣於身體
一側向上捲曲延伸，可見更符合唐代坐龍特徵，見《Inlaid
目前所知最早坐龍為唐代，尺寸稍大，1981年出土於唐朝 Bronze and Related Material from Pre-Tang China》，
將領史思明之墓，位於北京豐台區，展於《地域一体•文化 埃斯卡納齊，倫敦，1991年，編號57。
一脉——京津冀历史文化展》，首都博物館，北京，2015

118 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II