Page 142 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

239 A RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID IRON FINIAL
WARRING STATES PERIOD - HAN DYNASTY
戰國至漢 鐵錯金銀幾何紋斧式杖首

well cast with a cylindrical socket surmounted by a bulging cap finely inlaid in gold and silver with a geometric pattern, set to
one side with a similarly inlaid openwork terminal modeled in the form of a stylized dragon with an upturned snout, opposite a
slender fan-shaped axe blade encircled at the base with a further geometric band

Length 7¼ in., 18.4 cm
$ 20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE 來源
C.T. Loo, New York. 盧芹齋，紐約
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

EXHIBITED 展覽
Exhibition of Chinese Arts, C.T. Loo & Co., New York, 1941, 《Exhibition of Chinese Arts》，盧芹齋，紐約，1941年，
cat. no. 156. 編號156

Highly ornamented axe heads of this type were likely made for ceremonial use as a finial crowning a long pole,
together with a matching ferrule to cap the foot rather than as a functional weapon used in warfare. See a related
gold-inlaid metal finial, modeled in the form of a dragon head issuing a long terminal, from late Warring States period,
excavated, together with its fitted lacquered wood pole and bronze ferrule, from Tomb 2 at Baoshan, Hubei province,
now in the Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan, exhibited in Ringing Thunder. Tomb Treasures from Ancient China, San
Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, 1999, cat. no. 78.

A closely related gold-inlaid iron axe-head finial, attributed to Han dynasty, formerly in the George Crofts Collection,
is now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, acc. no. 925.1.28. See other related examples, including a gold and
silver-inlaid bronze finial, cast with a curved bird-form terminal issuing from a dragon head, from the middle Warring
Sates period, unearthed with remains of wood in the socket in Qufu, Shandong province, published in Zhongguo
wenwu jinghua daquan qingtongjuan [Compendium of Chinese art. Bronzes], Taipei, 1993, no. 1018; a gold-inlaid
iron finial with a bird-form terminal and a similar axe blade, attributed to the Han dynasty, sold in our London rooms,
28th May 1968, lot 13; another sold in these rooms, 8th November 1980, lot 9; a bronze axe-head finial without inlay,
excavated in Changzhi, Shanxi province, published in Shanxi chutu wenwu [Excavated cultural relics in Shanxi],
Beijing, 1980, no. 102.

此類斧式杖首應為儀式而製，與鐏合用，並非實戰武器。 可見一近例，斷代漢，曾屬 George Crofts 收藏，現藏
參考一例，金屬錯金杖首，杖首呈龍形，斷代戰國後期， 於多倫多皇家安大略博物館，藏品編號925.1.28。此外尚
湖北包山二號古墓出土，出土時杖首連漆木杖及鐏，現藏 可比較數例：其一，銅錯金銀杖首，山東曲阜出土，出土
於武漢湖北省博物館，展於《Ringing Thunder. Tomb 時插槽仍與木杖殘存相連，載於《中國文物精華大全•青
Treasures from Ancient China》， 聖地亞哥藝術博物 銅卷》，台北，1993年，編號1018；其二，鐵錯金斧式
館，聖地亞哥，1999年，編號78。 杖首，末端呈鳥形，售於倫敦蘇富比1968年5月28日，編
號 13；其三售於紐約蘇富比1980年11月8日，編號9；其
四，銅斧式杖首，無錯金銀，出土於山西長治，載於《山
西出土文物》，北京，1980年，編號102。

140 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II