Page 34 - 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

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A RARE PAIR OF SMALL GOLD BOAR-FORM ORNAMENTS
NORTHEAST CHINA, 5TH-3RD CENTURY BC
Each ornament is fnely cast as a kneeling boar with powerful body This pair of rare gold boar-form ornaments is representative of the
and legs, bristly mane, curled tail and pricked ears, the facial features, type of personal ornament favored by the nomadic cultures of northern
including the tusks, are fnely detailed, and there are two fat, vertical China during the Eastern Zhou dynasty. The dominant source of design
attachment loops on the concave reverse. for these ornaments was the animals and birds that surrounded these
pastoral people, including ibex, wild asses, horses, stags, deer, rams,
Each 1º in. (3.2 cm.) wide; weight 9.8 and 9.5 g (2)
tigers, and wild boars. Often the animals are shown in a recumbent or
$40,000-60,000 kneeling position, creating a more compact shape. Even though there
was a greater use of gold and silver for ornamentation during this period,
most of the ornaments were made of bronze, such as a group of seven
PROVENANCE bronze ornaments cast as kneeling boars discovered in a Warring States
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
tomb at Xinhui Village, Aohan Banner, Liaoning province, illustrated
no. CK24.
in Treasures on Grassland: Archaeological Finds from Inner Mongolia
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Autonomous Region, Shanghai, 2000, p. 112. Another small bronze
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 1. garment plaque of a kneeling boar is illustrated by Emma C. Bunker,
Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M.
EXHIBITED
Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1997, p. 189, no.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 24. 262, where it is dated 5th-3rd century BC and ascribed to Northern
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The China or Inner Mongolia.
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 12, an exhibition touring the United
Personal ornamentation made of gold was a sign of high status, and
States and shown also at nine other museums.
just as small animal-form plaques were made in bronze in multiples as
LITERATURE ornamentation, so too were those made of gold. This is exemplifed by
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, the four gold ornaments cast as recumbent stags in this sale, lot 503, as
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 24. well as the present pair of gold boars.
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 23. 公元前五/前三世紀 金彘形飾一對

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