Page 138 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

237 A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE CEREMONIAL HALBERD BLADE (GE)
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD

東周 春秋 青銅鳥獸紋戈
the gently curved yuan crisply cast with a recessed reserve enclosing two abstract motifs on either side, extending to the
nei rendered in the form of a ferocious feline with mouth agape revealing sharp fangs, its sinuous scaly body terminating in
muscular limbs and sharp claws, above a mythical bird facing downward and grasping a serpent with its beak and claw, set
against the qiong decorated with bands of fine scrolls separated by ribbed borders, with two small circular chuan pierced near
the bottom on each side, the surface with occasional areas of malachite encrustation
Width 6⅛ in., 15.7 cm

$ 20,000-30,000

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

The present bronze halberd blade was likely from the Wu state during the Spring and Autumn period. This attribution
is supported by a similar bronze ge of this type, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, that has an eight-character
inscription cast along the center of the yuan on both sides, reading Hanwang Shi Ye zuowei yuanyong (for the use of
the King of Han, Shi Ye), published in the Palace Museum, ed., Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pl. 263.
According to the Eastern Han dynasty text Shuowen jiezi (Explaining literature and analyzing characters) compiled
by the famous scholar Xu Shen (c. 30-124), Han was a location inside the state of Wu. For a detailed discussion
on the Palace Museum ge and its inscription, see Max Loehr, Chinese Bronze Age Weapons. The Werner Jannings
Collection in the Chinese National Palace Museum, Peking, London, 1956, no. 82, pp 169-174.

A closely related bronze halberd blade of the same form, cast with the same design, is known in the collection of
Museo Nazionale D’Arte Orientale in Rome, Italy. Other related bronze ge include one from the David David-Weill
Collection, modeled with the feline beast and the bird arranged horizontally instead of perpendicularly as the present
lot, published in Umehara Sueji, Shina-Kodo Seikwa / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections
in Europe and America, Part III: Miscellaneous Objects, Vol. II, Osaka, 1933, pl. 100b; another cast with an inscription,
exhibited in Chinese Archaic Jades and Bronzes from the Estate of Professor Max Loehr and others, J.J. Lally & Co.,
New York, 1993, cat. no. 114.

本戈應為春秋時期吳國兵器，比較北京故宮博物院收藏 比較一例，器形及紋飾相同，意大利羅馬國家東方藝術博
一相近銅戈例，帶八字銘文「邗王是野作為元用」， 物館收藏。另比一例，出自大維•威爾收藏，獸鳥紋飾作
載於《故宮青銅器》，故宮博物院，北京，1999年， 橫向排列，與本品垂直排列相異，載於梅原末治，《歐米
圖版263；據東漢許慎所著《說文解字》中記載，邗， 蒐儲支那古銅精華•雜器部》，冊二，大阪，1933年，
本屬吳國。Max Loehr曾於著作中詳細介紹此戈，參 圖版100b；再比一帶銘文例，曾展於《Chinese Archaic
考《Chinese Bronze Age Weapons. The Werner Jades and Bronzes from the Estate of Professor Max
Jannings Collection in the Chinese National Palace Loehr and others》， J.J. Lally & Co.，紐約， 1993
Museum, Peking》，倫敦，1956年，編號82，頁169- 年，編號114。
174。

136 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II