Page 52 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

108 A RARE PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE ‘TAOTIE’ FITTINGS
LATE SHANG / WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
商末 / 西周 青銅獸面飾一對

each crisply cast in the form of a mask with recessed lines defining the details, set with two protruding eyes, flanked by a pair
of pointed ears, the wide jaw flanked by hooked fangs and centered by a curved snout, all surmounted by a pair of capped
horns, the back set with a horizontal bar for attachment, the surface with malachite encrustation, wood stands (4)

Width 1⅞ in., 4.8 cm
$ 5,000-7,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, 5th December 1955. Nagatani, Inc.，芝加哥，1955年12月5日
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

Although the exact function of the present pair of mask-form fittings is unknown, recent excavations suggest this
type of fitting may have been used as horse ornaments. See a related mask of slightly larger size, cast with hooked
horns and inlaid with turquoise, set to the back with crossed bars for attachment, excavated at an Yinxu period
site, together with a pair of horse skeletons and a group of bronze harness ornaments, from horse pit no. 2017 at
Xibeigang, Anyang, Henan province, and included in the exhibition King Wu Ding and Lady Hao. Art and Culture of the
Late Shang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2012, cat. no. IV-1.

A closely related taotie mask fitting of a very similar size, reported to have come from Anyang, Henan province, from
the collection of Crown Prince Gustaf VI Adolf, is published in Nils Palmgren, ed., Selected Chinese Antiquities from
the Collection of Gustaf Adolf Crown Prince of Sweden, Stockholm, 1948, pl. 8, no. 1. A pair of related masks of slightly
larger size, cast with hooked horns, similarly set to the back with a horizontal bar for attachment, attributed to the
Zhou dynasty, from the H.K. Burnet Collection, was sold twice in our London rooms, first 4th April 1941, lot 381, and
then 29th March 1977, lot 32. Compare also a larger bronze mask, modeled in the form of a feline head with ruyi-
shaped ears, Western Zhou dynasty, sold in our London rooms, 6th June 1995, lot 4; also a pair from the Rutherston
Collection, sold in our London rooms, 26th June 1973, lot 1; another formerly in the Hardt Collection and Frederick
M. Mayer Collection, sold in our London rooms, 15th April 1980, lot 33; a further one sold in our London rooms, 19th
June 1984, lot 30; and lastly, one sold in our London rooms, 29th February 1972, lot 115.

考古研究表明，此類青銅獸面飾或為馬飾。比較一例，尺 摩，1948年，圖版8，編號1。比較一對作例，尺寸稍大，
寸稍大，嵌綠松石，面飾有角，角呈勾狀，背面凹入，斷 面飾有一對角，角呈勾狀，背面有一道橫梁，與前述作例
代殷墟早期，與一對馬骨及一套青銅馬羈飾物同期出土 相近，出自 H.K. Burnet 收藏，兩度售於倫敦蘇富比，先
自河南省安陽縣西北岡2017號馬池坑，曾展於《武丁與 後為1941年4月4日，編號381以及1977年3月29日，編
婦好:殷商盛世文化藝術特展》，台北故宮博物院，2012 號32。另比一例，尺寸稍大，如意形耳，斷代西周，售於
年，編號IV-1。 倫敦蘇富比1995年6月6日，編號4；另比一對作例，出自
Rutherston 收藏，售於倫敦蘇富比1973年6月26日，編
另比一例，尺寸相近，據傳出自河南安陽，瑞典國王
號1；尚有一例，出自 Hardt 收藏及 Frederick M. Mayer
古斯塔夫六世•阿道夫舊藏，見 Nils Palmgren 編，
收藏，售於倫敦蘇富比1980年4月15日，編號33；亦見一
《Selected Chinese Antiquities from the Collection
例售於倫敦蘇富比1984年6月19日，編號30；再比一例，
of Gustaf Adolf Crown Prince of Sweden》，斯特哥爾
售於倫敦蘇富比1972年2月29日，編號115。

50 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA