Page 281 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 Hong Kong

456
Two archaic bronze ‘bird’ ge

Late Shang dynasty

Each tapering from a pronounced guard towards a pointed tip with a

raised central ridge, the hilt curved at the end in an archaistic head of a

bird.
Each: 27.8cm long. (2).
HK$40,000 - 60,000
US$5,200 - 7,700

The distinctive bird’s-head form visible on the present lot derives from 456
the late Shang dynasty, and similar examples gradually became less
common during the Western Zhou dynasty. Although such forms only
dominated for a relatively short period of time, the current lot has
similarities with excavated examples from Anyang, Henan province. For
an illustrated example from the C.H. Wang collection, see Shang and
Zhou Chinese Bronze Weaponry, Taipei, 1993, p.98-99, no.6. Compare
a similar excavated example also dated to the late Shang dynasty,
unearthed in Anyang, Henan province in 1975, illustrated in Zhongguo
Qingtongqi Quanji 3. Shang 3, Beijing, 1997, p.204, no.203.

商晚期 歧冠鳥形曲內戈兩件

457
An archaic bronze ‘zoomorphic’ mask
Late Shang dynasty
Cast in the form of a horned taotie with bulging pierced eyes and
prominent bridge of the nose, pierced with original apertures in the eyes,
between the cheeks and along the upper lip.
19cm wide.
HK$80,000 - 120,000
US$10,000 - 15,000

商晚期 青銅牛首式馬具

457
Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art | 279