Page 239 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

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PROPERTY FROM THE JUNKUNC COLLECTION cast in metal. For a Six Dynasties gilt-bronze 明 銅鎏金坐獅
A TANG-STYLE GILT-BRONZE precedent of the same size, similarly posed,
FIGURE OF A LION and holding the tail in the same attitude, see an 銘文：
MING DYNASTY example in the collection of the Metropolitan 報恩 謝德
Museum of Art (acc. no. 42.25.32). The same
collection also includes a Tang dynasty gilt-
seated on its haunches with its forelegs 來源
firmly planted, its head detailed with fierce bronze figure of lion standing foursquare atop a 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏
protruding rounded eyes, thick brows, roaring rectangular base (acc. no. 42.25.31).
mouth revealing teeth and sharp fangs, and The modeling of the body, particularly in the
leaf-shaped ears swept to the back, the long chest and the joints in the forelegs, closely
mane falling in luxurious spiraling curls down follows Tang dynasty lions carved in limestone
the neck, the long tail turned upward, the base or marble. See for instance a small white
inscribed with four characters reading baoen marble carving of a lion, also from the collection
(to repay kindness) and xiede (to appreciate of Stephen Junkunc III, sold at Christie’s New
virtues) York, 21st September 1995, lot 300; and a
Height 4¼ in., 10.9 cm larger example, from the collection of Robert
H. Ellsworth, sold at Christie’s New York,
PROVENANCE
17th March 2015, lot 16. Similar in style is a
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). puddingstone example in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 24.74).
The present lion is modeled after medieval
Chinese sculptures of lions, which were $ 60,000-80,000
principally sculpted in stone and occasionally

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