Page 117 - Bonhams Asian Art May2016 UK

286 286
A CYLINDRICAL BRONZE FITTING, 287
PROBABLY AN AXLE CAP
Western Zhou
The tubular body cast in relief with a repeating
pattern of stylised confronting birds and
dragons, the bodies with incised lines running
through the middle, the flaring rim with a band
of arrow-head motifs to the flattened surface,
of silvery grey-green patination, with areas of
verdigris and encrustation, wood stand.
7cm (2.3/4in) long.

£3,000 - 5,000
CNY28,000 - 46,000
HK$33,000 - 55,000

Provenance
Sotheby’s London, 19 June 1984, Lot 27.
Purchased Bluett & Sons Ltd. 25 June 1984.

Exhibited
Ostasiatische Kunst Ausstellung, Koln 1953.
Nr.25.1 (label).

Compare an early Western Zhou jade plaque
carved with related bird motifs in the Hotung
Collection, British Museum, illustrated by
Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to
the Qing, London, 1995, p.49, fig. 37a, b.
Also for related bird motifs on a bronze vessel
see Gems of Chinese Art from the Asian
Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery
Brundage Collection, 1983, no. 72, p.172-
173.

287
A PAIR OF CIRCULAR BRONZE FITTINGS
Warring States
Each of domed form, cast in openwork relief
with sinuous, entwined chilong enclosing a
crouching stippled toad, set on square form
shafts, wood stands.
4.7cm (1.7/8in) diam and 4.5cm (1.3/4in)
long. (4).

£1,000 - 1,500
CNY9,200 - 14,000
HK$11,000 - 16,000

Provenance
Purchased Bluett & Sons. Ltd., 19 July 1973.

ASIAN ART | 115