J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Bronze and Gold in Ancient China
March 24 - April 12, 2003
32.
A GROUP OF THREE GILT BRONZE FIGURAL PLAQUES
AND ONE ARCHITECTURAL PLAQUE
Eastern Han Dynasty, A.D. 2nd - Early 3rd Century
including a stylized figure of an archer wearing a helmet and armor, shown in the conventional pose of stretching his crossbow, with his feet braced against the bow, pulling back on the bowstring, and with an arrow which usually is shown held in his teeth shown at the back of his neck, the other two figures probably intended to represent immortals, one dressed in long robes and a court headdress, shown standing with a fan in one hand, the other a figure of an old man, perhaps a seer or sage, shown standing wearing full-sleeved voluminous robes and holding a long staff, retaining a large rounded boss from an attachment spike at the center; all with engraved linear outlines and details, the archer and the figure in court dress also pierced with apertures for attachment and with silvered backgrounds and gilded detailing, the other figure gilded, and all with traces of green patina at the edges; the architectural plaque of elongated form with square central pillar and four short trapezoidal legs under a narrow tapering crossbeam with curling flame motifs rising from the upper edge in a symmetrical pattern, engraved in the center with a winged dragon, and with one rounded boss over an attachment spike at one side and a corresponding aperture at the other side, the gilded surface showing some bright green areas of corrosion at the edges.
Figures: Heights 7 1⁄2 inches (19 cm), 7 1⁄4 inches (18.4 cm)
5 3⁄4 inches (14.6 cm)
Crossbeam: Length 10 1⁄2inches (26.7 cm)
The image of an archer pulling back on his bowstring with his feet braced on his bow, in the method of cocking his crossbow known as jue zhang nu is a recurring theme in the decoration of Han dynasty tombs. A gilt bronze openwork plaque depicting an archer in the jue zhang nu pose surrounded by animals of the four directions 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. 83, fig. 8, 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).
Compare also the rubbings of stone reliefs with similar images of archers cocking their crossbows, excavated in 1978 from a Han tomb in Tanghe, Nanyang, Henan province, illustrated in Kaogu Xuebao, 1980, No. 2, p. 249, fig. 16 and p. 250, fig. 18, nos. 1 and 2.
32.
A GROUP OF THREE GILT BRONZE FIGURAL PLAQUES
AND ONE ARCHITECTURAL PLAQUE
Eastern Han Dynasty, A.D. 2nd - Early 3rd Century
Figures: Heights 7 1⁄2 inches (19 cm), 7 1⁄4 inches (18.4 cm)
5 3⁄4 inches (14.6 cm)
Crossbeam: Length 10 1⁄2inches (26.7 cm)