Page 44 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

206 A PAIR OF EXCEEDINGLY RARE SILVER ‘MAKARA’ PLAQUES
SONG DYNASTY
宋 銀鏨摩羯紋牌一對

each of triangular form pierced with two tiny apertures on each of the sides, the recessed top decorated in repoussé with two
pairs of confronting makaras, each with a single horn, a long curled snout, and a sinuous scaly body issuing large pelvic fins
and a dorsal fin along the spine, extending to a furcated tail, all against a fine stippled ground (2)

Height of taller 3¼ in., 8.3 cm
$ 6,000-8,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Dai Cun Shu Wu Collection (according to label on the 帶存書屋收藏（據盒籤）
box). Frank G. Marcus 收藏，至約1953年
Collection of Frank G. Marcus, until circa 1953. 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

The present pair of triangular plaques is extremely rare, and no other examples appear to be published. The tiny
apertures on the sides may suggest that they were used as ornament plaques. The creatures decorating the plaques
can be identified as makara, a water guardian spirit used as an architectural element to protect gateways. Makaras
images arrived in China with the propagation of Buddhism just after the Han dynasty, but for centuries made only
rare appearances, generally as a detail on Buddhist sculptures or temple reliefs. During the Tang and Song dynasties,
makaras are found as decorative subjects on metal wares, typically depicted with a fish body and dragon head with
a long upturned curling snout, such as a pair decorating the interior of a parcel-gilt plate from the Tang dynasty,
in the Inner Mongolia Museum, Hohhot, published in Zhang jingming, Zhongguo beifang caoyuan gudai jinyinqi
[Ancient gold and silverwares from North China], Beijing, 2005, no. 77. The makaras on the present lot, however, are
depicted with elongated sinuous bodies resembling a dragon, which can be compared to the makara on an engraved
silver box and cover, similarly rendered in a long dragon body, from the Song dynasty, illustrated in Pierre Uldry,
Chinesische Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, pl. 281. Compare also a related Song dynasty rectangular silver plaque
decorated in repoussé with a mythical sea creature standing above crashing waves, against a similarly executed
stippled ground, published ibid., pl. 268.

本對牌極其珍罕，疑為孤例，兩邊帶小孔，故證其或為裝 呼和浩特內蒙古博物院，載於張景明，《中國北方草原古
飾之品。摩羯，守護神，活動於水中，作建築元素報門 代金銀器》，北京，2005年，編號77。本品所飾摩羯則
戶安全。漢代之後隨佛教傳入中土，其後多個世紀期間， 身軀更為修長如龍身，可比較一宋代銀蓋盒例，摩羯紋飾
僅偶爾見於佛像或佛廟浮雕，並不普及。唐宋年間，摩羯 與本品造型相近，圖載於Pierre Uldry，《Chinesische
見於金屬器紋飾，多以龍首魚身形像出現，吻部長而向上 Gold und Silber》，蘇黎世，1994年，圖版281。另比一
捲起，比較一對銀局部鎏金盤例，盤心飾摩羯紋，現藏於 長方形銀牌作例，斷代宋朝，飾水獸站立於波濤之間，地
作相類風格魚子紋，前述出處，圖版268。

42 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II