Page 137 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

odeled with bulging eyes, menacing teeth and a ferocious expression, in which the
dynamism and vigor of the dragon are conveyed to the full extent, the present lot
Mbelongs to a very small group of dragon head-form fittings, among which gilt-bronze
examples of this fine quality are extremely rare. See a related gilt-bronze dragon head fitting of a slightly
larger size, modeled with an extended rectangular socket, sold in our London rooms, 12th December
1989, lot 116; and another without the extended socket, offered in our London rooms, 10th December
1985, lot 35.

Compare a larger celadon jade dragon head fitting, carved in a very similar style, from the Tang dynasty,
excavated from Qujiang village in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, now in the Xi’an Antiquities Protection and
Archaeological Institute, exhibited in Gilded Dragons. Buried Treasures from China’s Golden Ages, British
Museum, London, 1999, cat. no. 54. Another jade example of a less angular form, similarly carved but
with a long flowing mane, attributed to the 9th to 10th century, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs.
Desmond Gure, is published in Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt and Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard, Chinese Art.
Bronze. Jade. Sculpture. Ceramics, New York, 1960, pl. 82.

Related dragon head fittings of this type are also known in sancai-glazed pottery, such as one from
the Tang dynasty, modeled with an open mouth containing a small pearl, excavated at Huangbu town,
Shaanxi province, now in the Yaozhou Kiln Museum, Tongchuan, published in Yōshū-yō : Chūgoku chūgen
ni hana hiraita meiyō (The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware), Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997,
cat. no. 1.

The design of these dragon heads clearly indicate they were functioned as fittings. It is noted that the
jade example was excavated from the bottom of Qujiang Pond, which may suggest it was possibly a
decorative fitting from a royal boat, op. cit., British Museum, London, 1999, p. 93. The small size of the
present dragon head would suggest a different placement, but it may have served a similar purpose,
such as an ornament for an imperial carriage. See a line drawing of a Song dynasty imperial carriage,
of which the curved ends of the parasol spokes are shown to be crowned with dragon head-form
fittings, illustrated in 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. 49, fig. 2.

觀本品龍首，雙目怒出，獠牙外露，面目威猛，龍生 唐三彩也有類似龍首飾件，如見一例，龍首噙明珠，
動的神態和兇猛的氣魄盡顯。此種龍首飾件可見數 出土於陝西省黃堡鎮，現存於銅川市耀州窰博物館，
例，但銅鎏金者珍稀非常，尤為罕見。見一銅鎏金龍 錄《耀州窯 : 中国中原に華ひらいた名窯》，大阪市
首，尺寸稍大，售於倫敦蘇富比1989年12月12日， 立東洋陶磁美術館，1997年，編號1。
編號116。另有一例，售於倫敦蘇富比1985年12月
10日，編號35。 此類龍首應均為飾件。上述《Gilded Dragons》展
覽圖錄中，編者論述該玉龍首出土於曲江池，所以
可參考一唐代玉雕龍首例，紋飾造型相似，於陝 有可能原為御船飾件，詳見前述出處，大英博物館，
西省 西 安市 曲江 村出 土， 現藏 西安 市文 物保 護 倫敦，1999年，頁93。本品龍首雖尺寸較小，但應
考古研究院，展於《Gilded Dragons. Buried 功用相同，或可能做為御用車輦的裝飾部件。楊海
Treasures from China’s Golden Ages》，大 鵬曾於其文章中載錄一幅宋代亭子車線描圖，細觀
英博物館，倫敦，1999年，編號54。另見一玉龍 其車蓋頂末端所飾，即似此類龍首飾件，見〈金代
首例，斷代九至十世紀，為Desmond Gure伉儷收 銅坐龍的發現與研究〉，《北方文物》，期1，哈爾
藏，錄Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt及Jean-Claude 濱，2009年，頁49，圖2。
Moreau-Gobard，《Chinese Art. Bronze. Jade.
Sculpture. Ceramics》，紐約，1960年，圖版82。

10 SEPTEMBER 2019 SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK 135