Page 123 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

The depiction of a Liao dynasty seated dragon appears to show more similarities with the present
lot. Compare the dragon design on a gilt-silver crown, excavated from a Liao tomb in Jianping county,
Liaoning province, now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, exhibited in Unearthing China’s Past, Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, 1973, p. 186, fig. 100. The crown is decorated with a pair of confronting dragons.
Each is depicted seated with their tails curled upward behind the back and rendered with significantly
more details than the Tang examples. Another notable feature is the use of short horizontal lines to
depict the skin on the inside of the dragon’s forelegs, which is also a characteristic on the present
dragon.

Perhaps the most closely related example by far is a larger bronze dragon from the Jin dynasty, similarly
cast in a seated position with one claw raised grasping a cloud wisp and tail curled upward behind the
back, with the skin of the inside of the fore legs similarly depicted, discovered in Acheng, Heilongjiang
province, now in the Heilongjiang Museum, Harbin, exhibited in Zhongguo jiyi. Wuqiannian wenming guibao
[The Chinese Memory. Treasures of the 5000-year Civilization], Capital Museum, Beijing, 2008, cat. no. 59.

While its function remains unclear, the small apertures to the underside of the present dragon indicate
the purpose of attachment, likely as an ornamental fitting. A smaller white jade carving of a seated
dragon from the Liao dynasty, excavated from Chaoyang, Liaoning province, is identified as an ornament
on a Buddhist parasol that was discovered concurrently, see Yang Haipeng, ‘Jindai tongzuolongde faxian
yu yanjiu’, [Discovery and study of bronze seat dragons from the Jin dynasty], Beifang wenwu [Cultural
relics of the north], vol. 1, Harbin, 2009, p. 46. According to the historical text Jinshi [History of Jin]
compiled in the Yuan dynasty, a seated dragon is also recorded as being part of the decoration set on top
of a danian -- a type of imperial carriage used by the emperors during the Jin dynasty.

遼代坐龍形象與本品較為接近，比一銅鎏銀寶冠，出 龍江省博物館，展《中國記憶：五千年文明瑰寶》，
土於遼寧省建平縣一遼代墓，現藏遼寧省博物館， 首都博物館，北京，2008年，編號59。
展於《Unearthing China’s Past》，波士頓美術
館，1973年，頁186，圖100。該寶冠鏨飾一對坐 雖然本品坐龍功用尚未明確，但其龍身下方小孔說明
龍，比上述唐例刻畫更為精細，龍尾與本品相類，於 其原應為飾。參考一遼代白玉坐龍，遼寧省朝陽市出
背後上翹。值得一提的是，龍前臂內側飾以平行線條 土，據推測應為同時出土佛寶蓋上之飾件，詳見楊海
以作內膚，此特徵亦見於本品。 鵬，〈金代銅坐龍的發現與研究〉，《北方文物》，
期1，哈爾濱，2009年，頁46。除此外，《金史》
目前存世與本品最為相近者為一金代銅龍例，同樣坐 中也有記載：「大輦，赤質，正方......頂輪施耀葉，
姿，前爪握一縷祥雲，龍尾於背部捲曲上翹，前臂同 中有銀蓮花，坐龍」，故此本品亦可能為金代御用車
飾平行線條，於黑龍江省阿城市發現，現藏哈爾濱黑 輦之飾。

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