Page 253 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

811
A ‘TIGER AND BUFFALO’ GOLD Four plaques of the same size and design, 公元前五至三世紀 金鏨虎噬
PLAQUE dating to the late Warring States period, 牛紋牌
5TH - 3RD CENTURY BC were excavated in 1973 at Aluchaideng site,
southeast of Hangjin Banner City, Yikezhao
the rectangular sheet worked in repoussé with League, Ordos, Inner Mongolia. They are now 來源
a buffalo spreading across the length of the in the collection of the Inner Mongolia Museum, Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) 收藏
plaque attached by two tigers at each side, the Huhehaote, and one is illustrated in Empires Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964) 收
buffalo’s head and horns in high relief, the fur beyond the Great Wall - The Heritage of Genghis 藏，購於約1939年，此後家族傳承
indicated in finely combed lines, the tigers with Khan, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles,
thick wavy coats and long claws, all bordered by 1993, fig. 26; and also in Zhang Jingming
rope-twist band, pierced at the four corners and Zhongguo beifang caoyuan gudai jinyinqi
at the buffalo’s snout, stand (2) [Ancient Gold and Silver Works from China’s
Length 5 in., 12.7 cm Northern Steppe], Beijing, 2005, pl. 21. Another
plaque of this type, excavated from the same
PROVENANCE site in 1972, is published in the archaeological
Collection of Harry Geoffrey Beasley report by the Inner Mongolia Archaeology Team
(1881-1939). and the Inner Mongolia Museum, ‘Neimenggu
Collection of Alfred William Cowperthwaite wenwu kaogu gongzuo sanshi nian’ [30 Years of
(1890-1964), acquired circa 1939, and thence Archaeological Work in Inner Mongolia], Wenwu
by descent. kaogu gongzuo sanshi nian 1949-1979 [30 Years
of Archaeological Work, 1949-1979], Beijing,
1979, p. 74, fig. 2.

$ 15,000-20,000

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