Page 172 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

250 AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE GILT-BRONZE PLAQUE
NORTHERN DYNASTIES
北朝 銅鎏金透空火焰花葉紋牌

shaped as a pointed arch, elaborately cast in openwork and finely chased with turbulent flames surrounding a central arched
cartouche containing ribbon-tied trefoil scrolls, centered with a hemispherical rock crystal enclosing a polychrome painted
Buddhist figure, the reverse set along the bottom with two vertical pegs for attachment

Height 6¼ in., 15.9 cm
$ 4,000-6,000

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. 67. 編號67

The present plaque possesses several highly unusual features, particularly the reverse-painted rock crystal inset. No
other examples of this type appear to be published. Compare a related smaller plaque of the same form, similarly
cast with flames surrounding an arched cartouche, but enclosing a crested bird and inlaid with agate, attributed to
the Northern Wei dynasty, exhibited in Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Sculpture and Works of Art, J.J. Lally & Co., New York,
1992, cat. no. 45, and published again in Pierre Uldry, Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, cat. no. 124. The
ribbon-tied trefoil motif on the present lot can also be found on a gilt-bronze mythical beast mask, decorated above
its head with a very similar motif, excavated from a Northern Wei dynasty tomb in Datong, Shanxi province, published
in Gao Feng, ‘Datong Hudong Beiwei yihao mu [Northern Wei dynasty tomb no. 1 at Hudong, Datong], Wenwu, no. 12,
Beijing, 2004, p. 29, fig. 5.

While the exact function of the present plaque remains unclear, its elaborate decoration and frontal perspective may
suggest that it was used as a hat ornament, as evidenced by a related pierced gold plaque embellishing the front of a
reconstructed hat frame, dated Northern Yan dynasty (407-436), excavated at Beipiao, Liaoning province, exhibited
in China. Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, cat. no. 15, fig. 9. Without
the presence of the crystal inset, the present lot can also be compared stylistically to the mandorla behind Buddhist
figures, such as a gilt-bronze mandorla from an altarpiece, dated to the year 524, cast with similarly styled openwork
flames, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Alan Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, 1944, pl. XXIX.

本品珍奇獨特，嵌水晶內繪佛教人物像，尤為罕見，疑為 本品用途未能完全查證，然而觀察其華麗紋飾及正面視
孤例。比較一相類例，尺寸較小，器型相近，同飾透空 角，可推測其或為冠飾，比較一相近金透空花紋牌例，
火焰紋，嵌瑪瑙，斷代北魏，曾展於《Chinese Archaic 置於冠架前方作為飾物，斷代北燕，遼寧出土，曾展於
Bronzes, Sculpture and Works of Art》，J.J. Lally & 《China. Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD》，紐
Co.，紐約，1992年，編號45，另載於 Pierre Uldry， 約大都會藝術博物館，2004年，頁15，圖9。本品如無水
《Chinesische Gold und Silber》，蘇黎世，1994年， 晶嵌飾，其制式亦可比較佛像之背光，紐約大都會藝術博
編號124。本品之三葉紋飾，與一銅鎏金獸面上方所飾尤 物館收藏一銅鎏金佛像，銘文紀524年，佛像身後透空背
近，於山西大同北魏古墓出土，載於高峰，〈大同湖東北 光，火焰紋飾與本品頗似，載於Alan Priest，《Chinese
魏一號墓〉，《文物》，期12，北京，2004年，頁29， Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art》，紐
圖5。 約，1944年，圖版XXIX。

170 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II