Page 66 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

214 A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE ‘BIRD’ ORNAMENT
LATE SHANG DYNASTY
商末 青銅鳥紋泡

of circular form, the domed surface crisply cast with a stylized mythical bird, detailed with a down-curved beak, bulging eyes,
blade-shaped wings, and a hooked tail, all against a leiwen ground within a band of geometric square scales, the reverse set
with a horizontal bar for attachment, the surface with some minor areas of malachite encrustation

Diameter 2 in., 5 cm
$ 5,000-7,000

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

Bronze circular plaques of this type with a horizontal bar set to the reverse are called pao (bubble) in Chinese.
They could be used as ornaments to decorate horse bridles or to adorn the carriage of a chariot - usually along
the handrails or the sides of the base. Compare a group of bronze ornaments of this type made in various designs,
excavated from a late Shang dynasty tomb at Xiaotun village, Henan province, exhibited in Charioting in the Shang
Dynasty: Artifacts from the Horse-and-Chariot Pits at Hsiao-t’un, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2006, p. 51. The
bird motif on the present ornament is also on a Shang dynasty bronze chariot fitting, possibly a yoke finial, cast with
a closely related bird on the top, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of
the Palace Museum. Bronze Articles for Daily Use, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 1.

青銅泡，圓形，背見橫樑，用於裝飾馬轡或馬車——通常 本品所飾鳥紋，可見於一青銅車飾，或為軛角飾，北京故
置於輿盤或輿輢等處。比較一組銅泡作例，河南小屯村 宮博物院收藏，斷代商，載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全
商代晚期古墓出土，曾展於《載馳載驅：小屯商代車馬坑 集•青銅生活器》，香港，2006年，圖版1。
器物特展》，國立故宮博物院，台北，2006年，頁51。

64 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II