Page 64 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JAMES AND
MARILYNN ALSDORF
156
A FINE PAIR OF BRONZE TAOTIE-MASK LOOSE-RING For another much larger bronze single taotie-mask handle and ring,
HANDLES see J.J. Lally, Oriental Art, Archaic Chinese Bronzes, Jades and Works
Warring States (475-221 BCE) of Art, June 1994, New York, no. 64. Whilst the scale is completely
Each crisply cast in low relief with multi-ridged eyebrows centered different, the detailing is not. Both exhibit carefully and crisply cast and
by an unusual chequered-pattern cylinder below two curling horns, incised fur-like markings around the face. A pair of smaller gilt-bronze
the beak curled under to support the solid ring, the side edges of the mask handles closer in overall profile to ours were sold at Sotheby’s,
masks with tightly-scrolled tufts and crests, the reverse with a thick Hong Kong, 28/29th November 2019. The inclusion of cylinder-
projecting pin from the center of the back for mounting, all under a like ornamentation between the eyebrows appears to be unique.
soft silvery-green patina. For a single example see Andre Leth, Kinesisk Kunst (Catalogue of
3 1/8in (7.8cm) high, the taotie, 5in (12.6cm) high overall (2). Selected Objects of Chinese Art in the Museum of Decorative Art,
Copenhagen), 1959, no. 22.
$3,000 - 5,000
See also another pair sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 1 June 1994, lot
戰國 青銅舖首衔環一對 439 and later illustrated as an example of archaic types in regard to a
pair of important silver door handles made in the Palace Workshops
for the Qianlong emperor’s study in the Yuanmingyuan complex, see
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 27 April 2003, lot 34, fig.1.

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