Page 26 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

MASTERPIECES OF EARLY CHINESE GOLD AND SILVER | 金紫銀青 - 中國早期金銀器粹珍

501

A RARE TURQUOISE-INLAID GOLD RAM-FORM FITTING
SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 7TH-EARLY 6TH CENTURY BC
The fnely chased ftting is shaped as a recumbent ram, its head turned This rare gold ftting is similar to two that were excavated along
to the side. There are multiple cloisons that highlight areas of the body, with other gold objects in 1982 at a seventh-sixth century BC site in
some with turquoise inlay. Two posts or rivets project from the back. Majiazhuang, Fengxiang county, Shaanxi province, which are illustrated
by Yang Junchang, Paul Jett and Chen Jianli, Gold in Ancient China:
1Ω in. (3.8 cm.) wide; weight 61.4 g
2000-200 BCE, Beijing, 2017, p. 108, fgs. 3-6 d, and are described,
$30,000-50,000 p. 107, as having two rivets on the back (Fig. 1); and by Han Wei and
Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 37, pl. 39,
where the authors note that they were excavated from “chariot graves”,
PROVENANCE and identify them as harness fttings. None of the illustrated fttings
George Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939) Collection. have turquoise inlay, but there do appear to be recesses which could
Sotheby’s London, 28 May 1940, lot 504. have held inlay.
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
no. CK21. 春秋 金嵌松石羝形飾
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 6.
EXHIBITED
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og
Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 164.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 21.
LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 21.
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 16.

Fig. 1 A gold ram-form fitting, Spring and Autumn period,
(detail)
7th-early 6th century BC. ©Cultural Relics Press