Page 34 - Christie's Important Chinese Art Nov 3 2020 London

a magnIfIcent and extremely

rare PaIr of charIot fIttIngs

Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic
Consultant, Asian Art

This pair of chariot fittings are a testament to the
remarkable artistry and technical mastery of Eastern
Zhou metal workers. The fittings are exquisitely
decorated with a combination of reticulation and
inlay. The inlay, which is wrought with exceptional
skill, uses both gold and silver to achieve dazzling
and complex designs depicting dragons and
phoenixes. These inlays would have been created by
casting shallow indentations on the original bronze
object and then inlaying the gold and silver, which
was worked cold. The head and elongated neck of
the phoenix provides the projecting element, while
the dragon, with open-work body writhes over the
main part of the fitting, provides a hook element, and
appears to chase the phoenix. It is significant that
the two bronze chariots excavated from the tomb
of Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor (221–210 BC)
– a liche and an anche – were both decorated with
dragons. The emperor specifically associated himself
with the dragon, while comparing his empress to the
legendary phoenix, and from this time to the end of
the dynastic period the dragon and phoenix were
symbols of imperial power. It is possible, therefore,
that these fittings were made for an emperor, which
might explain their unusually large size combined
with their lavish decoration.

Chariots were not a Chinese invention, and those
used in China were developed from the chariots
of non-Chinese tribes in the north. Although it has
been suggested that chariots may have been used

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