Page 78 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

218 A RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE ‘MYTHICAL BEAST’ FITTING
WARRING STATES PERIOD - HAN DYNASTY
戰國至漢 銅鎏金舖首

solidly cast with a ferocious mythical beast mask, detailed with protruding almond-shaped eyes, broad snout, spiraling
rounded ears, and a triangular horn, the reverse set with a long flattened rectangular bar
Width 5⅜ in., 13.7 cm

$ 10,000-15,000

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

Although resembling the beast-mask handles on metal vases from the Zhou and Han dynasties, the present lot is
very unusual for its large size and a long rectangular tenon at the reverse. Its damaged lower jaw likely once had a
circular loop, which would have suspended a loose ring. Large mask-form fittings of this type are known to have been
used as ornaments decorating the outer coffin in imperial or aristocratic tombs. Compare a related fitting of larger
size, modeled in the form of a mythical beast mask suspending a loose ring, also set to the reverse with a long tenon,
discovered as one of the eight masks decorating the outer coffin in the tomb of a king from the Zhongshan State
during the Warring states period, in Pingshan county, Hebei province, included in the exhibition The Cultural Relics
and Art of the Ancient Zhongshan Kingdom, Shanxi Museum, Taiyuan, p. 132 (above).

See also a pair of related fittings of similar size, attributed to Warring States period, each set with a tenon to the back,
reportedly discovered at Jincun, Luoyang, illustrated in William Charles White, Tombs of Old Lo-Yang, Shanghai, 1934,
pl. 103, where the author notes that the pair are said to have been attached on each side of an outer coffin, p. 82; and
another related bronze fitting of a larger size, attributed to the Eastern Zhou dynasty, 3rd century B.C., exhibited in
Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 76. Stylistically, the beast
head on the present lot can be compared to a small gilt-bronze mask, similarly rendered with two large ears flanking
a pointed horn, attributed to the Han dynasty, exhibited in Kandai no bijutsu [Arts of the Han dynasty], Municipal
Museum of Fine Art, Osaka, 1975, cat. no. 2-88; one in the Röhsska Museum, Goteborg, exhibited in Mostra d’arte
cinese [Exhibition of Chinese art], Venice, 1954, cat. no. 82; and another on a bronze belt hook, also attributed to the
Han dynasty, illustrated in Bernhard Karlgren, ‘Chinese Agraffes in Two Swedish Collections’, Bulletin of the Museum
of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 37, Stockholm, 1965, pl. 78, fig. S6W.

本品雖與周至漢代銅壺等器所飾舖首耳造型相近，然而見 斷代東周公元前三世紀，曾展於《青銅聚英：中國古代
其尺寸碩大，背面連一長方形榫，尤為特殊。本品獸面 與鄂爾多斯青銅器》，香港藝術館，香港，1990年，編
下顎損壞，原本應銜有活環。此類大型獸面部件相信應為 號76。本品獸面造型風格可比較一銅鎏金獸面作例，尺
皇室貴族棺槨外層裝飾所用，比較一例，尺寸較大，獸面 寸較小，獸面造型相近，雙耳之間長獨角，斷代漢朝，
銜環，背面亦連一長榫，便於嵌入棺板，為王棺上八個大 曾展於《漢代の美術》，大阪市立美術館，1975年，
舖首之一，與另外七件同出自河北平山戰國中山王墓，曾 編號2-88；另一例現藏於Röhsska Museum，哥德堡，
展於《中山風雲•古中山國文物藝術》，山西博物館，太 曾展於《Mostra d’arte cinese》，威尼斯，1954年，
原，頁132（上圖）。 編號82；另一例為銅帶鉤，斷代漢朝，圖載於 Bernhard
Karlgren，〈Chinese Agraffes in Two Swedish
比較一對例，尺寸相近，斷代戰國，每件背後連一榫， Collections〉，《Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern
據記載發現於洛陽金村，圖載於懷履光，《洛陽故城古 Antiquities》，編號37，斯德哥爾摩，1965年，圖版78，
墓考》，上海，1934年，圖版103，該書作者論述，此 圖S6W。
對部件據說為嵌於棺槨兩側，頁82；另一例尺寸較大，

76 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II