Page 240 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

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PROPERTY FROM THE JUNKUNC COLLECTION In the Han dynasty, the turtle entwined with a snake came to
A VERY RARE GILT-BRONZE ‘MYTHICAL represent the cardinal direction of the north. The symbolic
TURTLE AND SNAKE’ GROUP animal is sometimes referred to as Xuanwu (Dark Warrior),
and is associated with protection and longevity. In antiquity,
SONG - MING DYNASTY the image often appeared on pottery roof tiles and bricks.
the turtle crouching with bent knees and twisting its head In the Song dynasty and subsequent periods, artisans
sharply upward locking eyes with the snake wrapped around returned to ancient forms as inspiration for vessels and
its body and rearing high overhead, the tension between the objets d’art cast in bronze. Compare a Song-Yuan dynasty
creatures made palpable through the fearful expression on cast-bronze figure of a qilin with very similar treatment of
the turtle’s face and the menacing grimace of the snake with the skin and neck to the present turtle, sold in our London
its trifurcated tongue flicking outward, its eyes bulging, and rooms, 5th November 1965, lot 84; a Yuan dynasty silver
the crest on its head raised, the snake’s tail looping around bowl with a three-dimensional serpent-like dragon that bears
and constricting the turtle’s, each animal’s skin covered in a strong resemblance to the present snake, in the collection
a dense network of scales, the turtle’s shell and carapace of the Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsa, and illustrated in
naturalistically modeled, the center of the carapace pierced The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty,
Length 4¾ in., 12 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, fig. 60;
and the similar scales and crisp casting of a Song dynasty
PROVENANCE bronze striding dragon sold in these rooms, 19th September
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 2002, lot 159. See also a much larger gilt-bronze ‘Xuanwu’
group with the same formal composition as the present, cast
$ 50,000-70,000 during the Yongle reign, now in the collection of the Hubei
Provincial Museum, Wuhan, and another in the collection of
the Capital Museum, Beijing.
宋至明 銅鎏金玄武

來源
史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

238 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART