J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Bronze and Gold in Ancient China
March 24 - April 12, 2003
28.
A GILT BRONZE PLAQUE IN THE FORM OF XIWANGMU
Eastern Han Dynasty, A.D. 2nd - Early 3rd Century
the Queen Mother of the West shown in silhouette with her winged tiger and dragon rampant at either side, seated on her throne in the traditional pose with hands folded under the wide sleeves of her voluminous robes, wearing a crown on her head, with large hourglass-shaped ornaments at her temples, and with a jewel in the center of her forehead, her broad shoulders emanating bow-shaped scroll motifs to indicate her radiance, with her facial features and many other details including scroll patterns on her robes and chevron motifs at the base of her throne all freely engraved and highlighted in gilding, the dragon and the winged tiger also with freely engraved linear details emphasized with gilding, the plaque pierced with a small aperture through the center to receive a spike for attachment, the surface of the metal showing effects of burial including widely scattered areas of encrusted bright green corrosion.
Height 8 1⁄2 inches (21.6 cm)
Length 11 3⁄8 inches (28.8 cm)
A gilt bronze openwork plaque depicting the Queen Mother of the West with tiger and dragon was discovered during the excavation of a group of brick tombs in eastern Sichuan province during archaeological work in 1982-1987 and is published in a line drawing in Kaogu, 1998, No. 12, p. 82, fig. 5, 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).
