Page 331 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 Hong Kong

510 Oxen are a common depiction in Dian culture, as they were used for
An archaic bronze ‘ox-head’ buckle rice cultivation. The ox was therefore the practical choice in Dian ritual
Western Han dynasty, Dian culture sacrifices. Gradually the representation is transferred into symbolism,
The circular plaque with raised edges, the centre with a protruding head showing the significance of oxen in Dian daily lives.
of an ox, its elongated face with defined eyes flanked by a pair of ears
and a pair of long horns, the rear with an angled hook. Compare an example excavated in 1956 from Shizhaishan, Yunnan
13.4cm diam. province, in the Yunnan Museum, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, The
HK$80,000 - 120,000 Chinese Bronzes of Yunnan, Beijing, 1983, p.178, no.210. See also
US$10,000 - 15,000 another almost identical excavated example, unearthed in Jinning
county, Yunnan province in 1956, in the Yunnan Provincial Museum,
西漢 滇文化 圓形牛首銅扣飾 Yunnan Province, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 14. Dian
Kunming, Beijing, 1996, p.132, no.157.

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