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A RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID IRON FINIAL WARRING STATES PERIOD - HAN DYNASTY |
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Length 7 1/4 in., 18.4 cm
well cast with a cylindrical socket surmounted by a bulging cap finely inlaid in gold and silver with a geometric pattern, set to one side with a similarly inlaid openwork terminal modeled in the form of a stylized dragon with an upturned snout, opposite a slender fan-shaped axe blade encircled at the base with a further geometric band
Provenance
C.T. Loo, New York.
collects ion of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).
collects ion of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).
Exhibited
Exhibition of Chinese Arts, C.T. Loo & Co., New York, 1941, cat. no. 156.
Catalogue Note
Highly ornamented axe heads of this type were likely made for ceremonial use as a finial crowning a long pole, together with a matching ferrule to cap the foot rather than as a functional weapon used in warfare. See a related gold-inlaid metal finial, modeled in the form of a dragon head issuing a long terminal, from late Warring States period, excavated, together with its fitted lacquered wood pole and bronze ferrule, from Tomb 2 at Baoshan, Hubei province, now in the Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan, exhibited in Ringing Thunder. Tomb Treasures from Ancient China, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, 1999, cat. no. 78.
A closely related gold-inlaid iron axe-head finial, attributed to Han dynasty, formerly in the George Crofts collects ion, is now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, acc. no. 925.1.28. See other related examples, including a gold and silver-inlaid bronze finial, cast with a curved bird-form terminal issuing from a dragon head, from the middle Warring Sates period, unearthed with remains of wood in the socket in Qufu, Shandong province, published in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan qingtongjuan [Compendium of Chinese art. Bronzes], Taipei, 1993, no. 1018; a gold-inlaid iron finial with a bird-form terminal and a similar axe blade, attributed to the Han dynasty, sold in our London rooms, 28th May 1968, lot 13; another sold in these rooms, 8th November 1980, lot 9; a bronze axe-head finial without inlay, excavated in Changzhi, Shanxi province, published in Shanxi chutu wenwu [Excavated cultural relics in Shanxi], Beijing, 1980, no. 102.
A closely related gold-inlaid iron axe-head finial, attributed to Han dynasty, formerly in the George Crofts collects ion, is now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, acc. no. 925.1.28. See other related examples, including a gold and silver-inlaid bronze finial, cast with a curved bird-form terminal issuing from a dragon head, from the middle Warring Sates period, unearthed with remains of wood in the socket in Qufu, Shandong province, published in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan qingtongjuan [Compendium of Chinese art. Bronzes], Taipei, 1993, no. 1018; a gold-inlaid iron finial with a bird-form terminal and a similar axe blade, attributed to the Han dynasty, sold in our London rooms, 28th May 1968, lot 13; another sold in these rooms, 8th November 1980, lot 9; a bronze axe-head finial without inlay, excavated in Changzhi, Shanxi province, published in Shanxi chutu wenwu [Excavated cultural relics in Shanxi], Beijing, 1980, no. 102.