J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

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Past Exhibition

Ancient Chinese Bronzes

March 19 - April 9, 2011

12.
A PAIR OF ARCHAIC BRONZE HORSE BRIDLE ORNAMENTS

Middle Western Zhou Dynasty, circa 8th Century B.C.

each cheek piece cast in an elaborate openwork ‘C’-shape with volutes and curls and incorporating circular ‘eyes’, channelled on the reverse and cast with loops for attachment, the bronze surface with bright green patination overall and traces of encrusted earth from burial.

Length 5 18 inches (13 cm) each

Exhibited
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Asian Orientations: Treasures from Honolulu’s Oriental Art Society, July 11 – August 25, 1985

Published
Link (ed.). Asian Orientations: Treasures from Honolulu’s Oriental Art Society, Honolulu, 1985, p. 89, no. 1, with description on p. 35

Compare two pairs of Western Zhou bronze cheek pieces discovered in Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, now in the collection of Shaanxi Provincial Zhouyan Museum, illustrated in the catalogue of the special exhibition shown at the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky, entitled Imperial China: The Art of the Horse in Chinese History, Prospect, 2000, p. 88, no. 38.

西周中期  銅馬鑣一對
各寬 13 厘米