Page 61 - 2021 March 18 to 19th, Important Chinese Works of Art, Christie's New York City

804
A VERY RARE LARGE RETICULATED BRONZE
OPENWORK SCABBARD
DIAN CULTURE, 5TH-3RD CENTURY BC
With arched profile, the center of the tapering
trapezoidal fitting is cast with an openwork design of
interlaced serpents with finely ribbed bodies between
geometric borders. The green patina has areas of ferrous
encrustation.
13º in. (34 cm.) long, Japanese wood box
$20,000-30,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Hong Kong, July 1997.
EXHIBITED:
New York, Kaikodo, 1998.
LITERATURE:
Kaikodo Journal, New York, Spring 1998, no. 50.

滇國 公元前五至三世紀 青銅鏤空蟠虺紋劍鞘
來源:
於1997年7月購自香港。
展覽:
紐約, 懷古堂, 1998年。
出版:
《懷古堂》, 紐約, 1998年春季刊, 50號。

The workmanship of this scabbard is representative of
the Dian culture which flourished in the area of Lake
Dian in Yunnan province, and was contemporary with
the late Warring States to Eastern Han period in China,
c. 4th century BC-1st century AD.

The present scabbard can be compared to a similar
Dian-culture example in the Yunnan Provincial
Museum, which was unearthed in Qujingxian, and is
illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan, Hong
Kong, 1994, no. 965, p. 269. The Yunnan example
features snakes without heads which read purely as
geometric designs, while the present scabbard is cast
with snakes with more intricate details. Another Dian-
culture scabbard with related decoration is illustrated
in Royal Ontario Museum: The T. T. Tsui Galleries of
Chinese Art, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1996,
no. 39. Compare, also, a bronze openwork scabbard
from the Falk collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 16
October 2001, lot 177, which is cast with asymmetrical
serpent designs, characteristic of Southern Siberian
prototypes.