Page 151 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Fine Chinese Art

Bears inhabited the forests of North China and were frequently
depicted in burials probably to protect their dead from harmful
influences. The world for bear, xiong 熊, is a homophone with brave
and powerful, xiong 雄.

According to the ‘Rites of Zhou’, Zhou Li (周禮), edited during the
Han dynasty, bears were employed in exorcism rituals, their skin worn
over the head of the performer who, holding a lance and a shield, led
the officials to perform the Seasonal Exorcism by searching through
houses and driving away pestilences. See J.Lagerway, Early Chinese
Religion. Part One. Shang through Han (1250 BC-220 AD), Boston,
2008, p.287.

A related jade carving of a recumbent bear, Song/Jin dynasty, was sold
at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2013, lot 3094.

223 (invoice)

226

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