Page 59 - Chinese Works of Art Bonhams Sept 2015

8067

8067
AN ARCHAISTIC GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FITTING
Song to Ming dynasty
Finely cast in high relief as a taotie or animal mask, the bone structure sharply defined, the
sides shaped by scrolling whorls of fur, with spiraling ears and horns and large sinuous eye
sockets inset with pupils carved from black crystaline stone, the details and surface picked out
in geometric designs of gold and silver.
2 3/9in (6cm) wide
$6,000 - 9,000

宋至明 銅錯金銀饕餮形配件

This fitting is fascinating, both for its superb craftsmanship as well as its abstraction of the
taotie motif towards a naturalistic animal face. The original spiritual significance of the taotie
design was already lost to memory by the Warring States period, as the motif became a purely
decorative convention. In the present piece, we find that the taotie has been further adapted
into a realistic animal form, reflecting contemporary interest in the virtuosic portrayal of natural
forms in luxury goods.

The use of animal-mask fittings, often for suspension of ring-handles, has a long history in
China. Two pairs of attachments, one pair of bronze and suspending ring-handles and other
pair of gold, both dated to the Warring States, are illustrated by B. Till, Treasures Unearthed:
Chinese Archaeological Artefacts from the Shang to Tang, Victoria, British Columbia, pp.
58-59; a silver and gold-inlaid bronze mask and ring-handle dated to the Eastern Zhou dynasty
is in the collection of the Freer Gallery, museum no.F1917.18, the gift of Charles Lang Freer.
However the exceptionally crisp and three-dimensional casting and the realism of the present
lot suggests a slightly later date.

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