Page 57 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

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A BRONZE AND GOLD HARNESS FITTING
SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, LATE 6TH-EARLY 5TH
CENTURY BC
LITERATURE
The circular ftting is comprised of three cast gold animal masks raised Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
on bronze posts that project from the top of the domed bronze ring, the Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 3.
outward-facing masks with protruding tongue, small nose, and bulbous Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
eyes below small ears and curved horns. and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 3.
2¿ in. (5.4 cm.) diam. Based on similar fttings excavated from various Warring States sites,
$10,000-15,000 this ftting and others like it appear to be harness fttings. A similar
ftting was excavated from a large pit flled with the remains of chariots
and horses at a Warring States site at Fengxiang Doufu village in
PROVENANCE Shaanxi province. Two similar fttings, with cast gold masks, have been
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, published. One is illustrated by Peter Y. K. Lam, ed., Celestial Creations:
no. CK3. Art of the Chinese Goldsmith, The Cheng Xun Tang Collection, vol. I,
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 12. Hong Kong, 2007, pp. 62-63, no. A29; the other by Simon Kwan and
Sun Ji, Chinese Gold Ornaments, Hong Kong, 2003, pp. 198-99, pl. 60.
EXHIBITED
Also illustrated, pl. 198, is an example with inward-facing, silver masks
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og
surmounting each post, excavated from the tomb of King Cuo (r. 327-313
Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 166.
BC), State of Zhongshan, in Lingshou, Pingshan county, Hebei province,
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
and also by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris,
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 3.
2001, p. 53, no. 86. A similar pair with gold foil-covered bronze masks,
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The
from the collection of Robert Hatfeld Ellsworth, sold at Christie’s New
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no.2, an exhibition touring the United States
York, 26 March 2010, lot 1290.
and shown also at nine other museums.
春秋 青銅鑄金三獸首環形飾