J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Bronze and Gold in Ancient China
March 24 - April 12, 2003
26.
A GILT BRONZE DRAGON-HEAD HUANG AND A BI DISC
Eastern Han Dynasty, A.D. 2nd - Early 3rd Century
the wide arc-shaped huang ending in silhouetted dragon heads with large pierced eyes and wide open jaws showing jagged teeth, with the rounded boss of an attachment spike corroded into place over the suspension loop; the large bi disc with a small central aperture covered by a high domed boss covering a long spike for attachment with engraved scroll and zig-zag decoration highlighted in gilding, the disc very freely engraved with loosely drawn foliate scroll in an allover design highlighted in gilding on a silvered ground, with stipple-engraved details, all enclosed within a narrow gilded border engraved with linked chevrons, the decoration partially obscured by heavy cuprite red and malachite green corrosion.
Huang: Length 16 inches (40.5 cm)
Disc: Diameter 9 1⁄2 inches (24 cm)
Compare the gilt-bronze ornamental disc engraved with scrolling waterplants and a magical three-legged frog discovered together with a group of gilt-bronze ornaments excavated from brick tombs in eastern Sichuan province during archaeological work in 1982-1987, published in a line drawing in Kaogu, 1998, No. 12, p. 80, fig. 2, in a report entitled Chongqing Wushanxian Dong Han liujin tongpaishi de faxian yu yanjiu (Discovery and investigation of Eastern Han gilded bronze ornamental plaques from Wushan county, Chongqing).
