Page 46 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

207 A RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID IRON BELT HOOK
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, WARRING STATES PERIOD
東周 戰國 鐵錯金銀嵌龍紋牌帶鉤

of tapered rectangular form, set to the top with a small silver recumbent beast in high relief and four alternating gold and
silver plaques, each meticulously decorated in relief with a pair of writhing, interlocking dragons, all against a ground of paired
triangular geometric scroll patterns, the underside with a circular button

Length 5½ in., 14.4 cm
$ 8,000-12,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Fritz Low-Beer, New York, 1950. Fritz Low-Beer，紐約，1950年
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

The present belt hook is notable for its highly elaborate design and intricate metalworking techniques. The generous
use of precious materials and the laborious workmanship necessary to make the complex decorations ensured
that belt hooks of this type were reserved for the use of the nobility during the late Eastern Zhou dynasty. Compare
two closely related belt hooks of this type, each also inset with jade plaques, excavated from Xinyang Chu tombs
in Henan province, published in Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology, ed., Xinyang Chumu [The Chu tombs in
Xinyang], Beijing, 1986, pls 64 and 65; another illustrated in Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China from the Collection
of Dr. Paul Singer, New York, 1965, pl. 85-c; one in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., illustrated in Thomas
Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C., Washington, D.C., 1982, pl.
51; and a fifth included in the exhibition Early Chinese Metalwork in Gold and Silver: Works of Art of the Ming and Qing
Dynasties, Eskenazi, New York, 2011, cat. no. 1.

本鉤紋飾繁複，運用珍稀材料，錯金銀工藝細緻耗時，極 年，圖版85-c；華盛頓弗瑞爾美術館收藏另一例，圖載於
為珍貴，相信在西周晚期僅屬貴族所用。比較兩相類作 Thomas Lawton，《Chinese Art of the Warring States
例，另鑲有玉牌，河南信陽楚墓出土，載於河南省文物研 Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C.》，華
究所編，《信陽楚墓》，北京，1986年，圖版64及65； 盛頓，1982年，圖版51；再比一例，展《Early Chinese
另一例圖載於Max Loehr，《Relics of Ancient China Metalwork in Gold and Silver: Works of Art of the Ming
from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer》，紐約，1965 and Qing Dynasties》，埃斯卡納齊，紐約，2011年，編
號1。

44 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II