Page 47 - Christie's Chinese Works of Art March 24 and 25th, 2022 NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JONATHAN BENTHALL AND ZAMIRA
MENUHIN BENTHALL
ⱷ730
#&/5)"--伉儷珍藏
A MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE
西漢ǎ銅鎏金龍首車飾
‘DRAGON HEAD’ CHARIOT TERMINAL
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)
The dragon head is cast with an upturned snout and flared nostrils above the Ϝ源
mouth which is open to reveal prominent teeth and a long tongue. A single
S-shaped horn curves over the back of the head onto the neck. The head is 埃斯肯納齊
і敦
年
finely incised with concentric wavy lines on the muzzle, and the horn and neck 展覽
are incised with scales. 紐☼
1BDF 8JMEFOTUFJO
Ǚ.BTUFSQJFDFT GSPN "ODJFOU $IJOBǚ
年 月
9q in. (24.2 cm.) long, cloth box 日 月 日
і敦
埃斯肯納齊
Ǚ.BTUFSQJFDFT GSPN "ODJFOU $IJOBǚ
年 月 日 月
$150,000-250,000 日
Ḫ津
阿ͅ莫林博ḵ館
於 年 月 日 年 月 日ы展
PROVENANCE:
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2000. і敦
૯英博ḵ館
於 年 月 日 年 月 日ы展
і敦
埃斯肯納齊
Ǚ&BSMZ $IJOFTF BSU GSPN QSJWBUF DPMMFDUJPOTǚ
年 月
EXHIBITED:
New York, Pace Wildenstein, Masterpieces from Ancient China, 20 March - 1 日
April 2000. ֨ḛ
London, Eskenazi Ltd., Masterpieces from Ancient China, 5 June - 8 July 2000. 埃斯肯納齊
Ǘ.BTUFSQJFDFT GSPN "ODJFOU $IJOBǘ
і敦
年
編號
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, on loan from 4 March 2002 - 22 June 2006.
London, British Museum, on loan from 22 June 2006 - 5 December 2012. 埃斯肯納齊及薛好ρ
Ǘ" %FBMFSĞT )BOE 5IF $IJOFTF "SU 8PSME UISPVHI
London, Eskenazi, Ltd., Early Chinese art from private collections, 3 - 25 UIF &ZFT PG (JVTFQQF &TLFOB[Jǘ
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年
頁
編號
November 2016. 埃斯肯納齊
Ǘ&BSMZ $IJOFTF BSU GSPN QSJWBUF DPMMFDUJPOTǘ
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編
號
LITERATURE:
Eskenazi Ltd., Masterpieces from Ancient China, London, 2000, no. 10.
Giuseppe Eskenazi with Hajni Elias, A Dealer’s Hand: The Chinese Art World
through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012, p. 198, no. 58.
Eskenazi Ltd., Early Chinese art from private collections, London, 2016, no. 21.

A Superb Western Han
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A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A S u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e rb
A Superb Western Han Gilt-bronze Chariot Terminal
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Gilt-Bronze Chariot Terminal
By Robert D. Mowry
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and
Senior Consultant, Christie’s
Created during the Western Han period (206 BC–AD 9), this handsome as a heng, which was in turn attached to the draught pole—alternatively
gilt-bronze chariot fitting representing the head of a dragon would have termed a tongue or shaft in English, and a zhou in Chinese—the ensemble
emblemized the elevated status of the chariot’s owner. The long snout, transmitting the horses’ forward movement to the chariot itself. A viewer
large eyes, flared nostrils, open mouth, bared teeth, and out-turned upper facing the horses could have seen this gilt bronze terminal between the
lip project the dragon’s immense power, just as the swept-back ears, mane, horses, more or less at the level of the tops of their forelegs, depending upon
and S-curved horn suggest forward motion, as if blown by the wind; in the height and possible curvature of the draught pole.
fact, this interpretation of the dragon would become the model for dragons
of all succeeding periods. Although bronzes of the Shang (c. 1600 BC–c. A model of an ancient chariot reconstructed in the mid-1930s features a
1046 BC) and Western Zhou (c. 1045 BC–771 BC) periods relied solely on terminal at the end of the draught pole, the model suggesting the original
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cast decoration for embellishment, bronzes of the Warring States period function and placement of this terminal. In addition, a Tang-dynasty (AD 618–
(475–221 BC) often employed inlays of gold and silver for decorative effect; 907) painting from Mogao Cave 17 at Dunhuang, Gansu province, dated by
by the Western Han, the taste for gold had asserted itself with the result that inscription to AD 897 and now in the British Museum, London (1919,0101,0.31),
many bronze vessels, implements, and fittings, were gilt, as evinced by this represents the Buddha Tejaprabha (Chinese, Chisheng Guangfu) riding in
compelling chariot fitting. Symbolizing wealth, power, and elevated status, an oxcart pulled by a single bullock harnessed between the cart’s double
fully embracing the new taste for gold, and setting the course for future draught poles.[ii] Each draught pole has a gold terminal in the form of lotus
representation of dragons, this terminal is the quintessential expression of bud at its outer end. The Classic of Filial Piety, a handscroll in the National
the arts of the Western Han period. Palace Museum, Taipei, with calligraphy by Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162)
and illustrations by Ma Hezhi (active c. 1130–1170), depicts the Emperor in
Known as “terminals” in English, fittings of this type are usually termed a horse-drawn carriage, its draught-pole ends appropriately in the form of
yue in Chinese, though they are sometimes also called wushi. This terminal dragon heads. (Fig. 1) As chariot and carriage structures and components,
originally capped and concealed the outer end of the wooden draught pole once established, changed little over the centuries, such paintings indicate
yuan of a horse-drawn chariot chema. The yoke, or e, placed over the horses’ how draught-pole terminals were used in traditional times, even though they
front shoulders, would have been hitched to a horizontal crossbar, known may date many centuries later than the present Han-dynasty terminal. 2
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