Page 35 - 2019 September 9th Bonhams Important Chinese Works of Art

PROPERTY FROM THE JOHN AND CELESTE FLEMING
COLLECTION
836
A RARE GILT SILVER HEAD ORNAMENT IN THE FORM OF A See a similar model exhibited in the Reitberg Museum, Zurich, 1991,
from the Dali Kingdom, Yunnan, and illustrated in the catalog Der
PHOENIX
9th-11th century Goldschatz der Drei Pagoden, no. 22.
The finely modeled crested bird with chased hollow body set off by a
high crested tail and separately fashioned openwork wings attached See also a similar model found at the Famen Temple in Precious
through the body and pierced with two small holes at each tip Cultural Relics in the Crypt of Famen Temple, no. 58. The Famen
suspending pendant chains, a further cluster of ornaments and chains temple can be dated, through a discovered stone inscription, to the
falling from the slender beak, the small legs inserted through a bed of Tang dynasty, and had been sealed from the fifteenth year of Wentong,
delicately fashioned layers of lotus petals. during the reign of the Tang Emperor Xizong (AD 873). There are pair
3in (7.6cm) high of similarly executed phoenix birds over the lintel of the Famen crypt
entrance, illustrated as cat. no. 14. Tang pottery female figures are
often shown with a phoenix-bird ornament as a centerpiece in their
$5,000 - 7,000 official court headdresses.

九至十一世紀 銅錯金鳳形頭飾 See a closely related silver-gilded hair ornament found in the Chifeng
district and published in Asia Society exhibition, Gilded Splendor:
Provenance: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire (907-1125),, New York, 2006, pp
J. J. Lally, 20 December 1993. 156-157. Both a Chinese and a Khitan feminine symbol, it is likely
that these ornaments were hair ornaments for an elite woman. The
On loan and exhibited: hooked beak may also be related to the Khitan passion for falconry,
The Denver Art Museum, 1993-2016 (Loan 795.1993) part of the ritual hunting calendar and conducted in the early spring.
See Emma C. Bunker, Julia M. White and Jenny F. So, Adornment for
來源： the Body and Soul: Ancient Chinese ornaments from the Mengdiexuan
J. J. Lally，1993年12月20日 Collection, pp. 19-22, 274 and 278.

展覽：
丹佛美術館，1993-2016年

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