Page 32 - Status & Ritual Chinese Archaic Bronzes

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A CEREMONIAL BRONZE DRUM, CHUNYU
LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD (4TH-3RD CENTURY BC)

戰國晚期 青銅錞於

The drum is of rounded elliptical section, decorated on each side with a whorl motif fanked by mythical
beasts. Bands of geometric scroll are softly cast encircling the fat base. A feline beast fnial surmounts
the upturned lip at the top of the drum. The bronze has a dark grey patina with light malachite and azurite
encrustation.

135 in. (34.5 cm.) high

£4,000-6,000 $6,300-9,300
€5,500-8,200

PROVENANCE

With Rare Art, Inc., New York, before 14 January 1981.
From an important private European collection.

Two chunyu drums bearing a similar tiger fgure on top, but with unornamented body are illustrated in
J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections; New York & Washington, D.C.,
1995, pp. 398-405. Another example is a Western Han tiger-mounted chunyu in the Shaanxi History
Museum Collection, China, illustrated by Li Xixing in The Shaanxi Bronzes, Xi’an, 1994, p. 284.

A similar but larger late Warring States period chunyu drum sold at Christie’s New York, 19-20 September
2013, lot 1457. Another example of a tiger-mounted chunyu with central whorl design is illustrated by E.
von Erdberg in Chinese Bronzes from the Collection of Chester Dale and Dolly Carter, Switzerland, 1978,
pp. 158-161, no. 90.

J. So explains that historical texts often describe the chunyu as a drum used for military purposes to signal
to troops during battle. (Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York,
1995, p. 399.)

來源:
於1981年1月14日前購自紐約古董商Rare Art，Inc
重要歐洲私人珍藏

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