Page 59 - SOTHEBYS MARCH 18 AND 19 2025

Fig 1. A gilt-bronze ‘dragon head’ handle, Han dynasty © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
圖1 漢 銅鎏金龍首飾件 © 大都會藝術博物館，紐約

Peering out with grandeur and might, this intricately cast 1992.165.25) (Fig. 1); a fifth from the collection of Sir Joseph
dragon’s head is a rare and spectacular example of Han Hotung, now in the British Museum, London (accession no.
dynasty metal work of unparalleled provenance. With each 2022,3034.27); a sixth, in the Sakamoto Collection at the
scale, whisker, tooth and horn delicately rendered with Nara National Museum (accession no. 1317-377); a seventh,
life-like precision and accentuated with liberal gilding, the included in Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong
present head is as much a piece of art as it is a symbol – a Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 117, and later sold
lasting homage to the mastery of an unknown ancient at Christie’s New York, 16th September 2010, lot 917; an
craftsman and the power of his mighty patron. eighth from the H. K. Burnet Collection, sold in our London
rooms, 4th April 1941, lot 382 and more recently at Woolley
Since the earliest recorded sources, dragons have played & Wallis, 24th May 2023, lot 418; and a ninth from the Worch
a crucial role in Chinese cosmology. Seen as harbingers Collection, illustrated alongside the present, in Umehara
of good tidings, life-giving rains and benevolent rulers, the Sueji, Shina kodo Seikwa / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese
piercing eyes, cloudlike mane and fierce jaws of the dragon Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America, Osaka,
have long been associated with power and majesty. Though 1933, pt. III, vol. I, pl. 64a.
the present head is rightly considered a work of art in its
own right, the piece was likely once produced as a handle This remarkable handle was formerly in the treasured
to a larger organic vessel, long since degraded in antiquity. possession of Belgian engineer and financier Baron Adolphe
Fitting snugly in the hand, this elegant fitting is remarkably Stoclet (1871-1949) and his wife, Suzanne (1874-1960),
ergonomic and invites the viewer to hold it; capturing one’s housed in their Art Nouveau masterpiece, Palais Stoclet, in
senses with its regal appearance and tactile exterior. Brussels. Designed by Joseph Hoffmann (1850-1956), one of
the era’s leading artists, the home was a Gesamtkunstwerk
Fewer than ten dragon handles of this rare type and period (‘total work of art’) of sorts and housed the Stoclets’ extensive
appear to be known, produced in a variety of related designs and wide-ranging collection, which also included murals
and preserved in important collections across the world: painted by Gustav Klimt. Two other celebrated bronze
one excavated from a Han dynasty tomb no. 2 at Ganquan animals from this period were also once preserved in the
in Hanjiang, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1981, no. Stoclets’ collection and speak to their aesthetic vision and
11, p. 6, fig. 15 and pl. 2:5; a second from the Eastern Han unmatched eye: the first, a widely published Han dynasty
tomb of Xianyu Huang (dated to 165 CE) in Wuqing county, fitting in the form of a bixie (chimera), most recently sold from
Hebei province, illustrated in Kaogu Xuebao, 1982, no. 3, the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung in our Hong Kong rooms,
pl. 19:2; a third, excavated from a brick factory in Xipang 10th October 2022, lot 1; and the second – perhaps the most
village, Koutian township, Yanshi, preserved in the Luoyang famous piece in the entire collection – a large bronze winged
Museum, illustrated on the Museum’s website; a fourth from dragon figure, now one of the highlights in the collection of the
the collection of Charlotte C. and John C. Weber, preserved Louvre Abu Dhabi, similarly included in the Royal Academy of
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession. no.
Arts exhibition of 1935-6, cat. no. 489.

114 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 A COLLECTING JOURNEY: THE JANE AND LEOPOLD SWERGOLD COLLECTION 115