Page 365 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 Hong Kong

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An extremely rare archaic bronze oil lamp
Han dynasty
Cast in the form of a male figure adorned in long tunic, standing
assertively on the back of a crouching tiger with left leg on the back and
right on its head, his right hand holding a long tubular post supporting
a circular bowl with central spike, the subdued tiger depicted with
intricately defined stylised scrolls on its body, depicted crouching four
square on a rectangular base.
26cm high.
HK$60,000 - 80,000
US$7,700 - 10,000

漢 青銅踏獸人俑燈
It is extremely rare to find a bronze oil lamp of this form, in which a male
figure is depicted standing on a tiger. A number of bronze oil lamps in
the form of kneeling servants, dated to the Warring States period, have
been preserved in private and museum collections, including an example
formerly in the Sze Yuan Tang collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 16
September 2010, lot 897. See also a bronze oil lamp from the Raymond
Bidwell Collection, in the Springfield Museum, Springfield, no. 1962-
2013, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2013, lot 2689. See also an
unearthed example, possibly a prototype for the current lot, excavated
from Pingshan, Hebei province in 1976, in the Cultural Relics Institute,
Hebei province, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji 9. Eastern
Zhou 3, Beijing, 1997, p.180, no.175. Compare also another excavated
example with a kneeling figure supporting an oil lamp dated to the
Western Han dynasty, unearthed from a tomb in Hebei province in 1968,
in the Hebei Provincial Museum, Hebei province, illustrated in Zhongguo
Qingtongqi Quanji 12. Qin Han, Beijing, 1998, p.100, no.98.

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