J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Bronze and Gold in Ancient China
March 24 - April 12, 2003
33.
A LARGE QUATREFOIL GILT BRONZE PLAQUE
Eastern Han Dynasty, A.D. 2nd - Early 3rd Century
the long narrow bar with two wide curving petal-shaped panels rising at the median and two more petal-shaped panels extended to slender tapering arms at either end, the surface lightly engraved in linear style with a dragon at one end and a phoenix at the other end amidst swirling scroll motifs and with another phoenix and dragon pair dissolved amidst scroll motifs in the petal panels at the median, all joined by scroll motifs along the central bar, the decoration highlighted with gilding on a silvered ground, the corroded surface with traces of green patination and extensive wear, now showing a reddish surface in some areas.
Length 26 1⁄2 inches (67.3 cm)
A quatrefoil gilt bronze plaque engraved with animals and figures 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. 7, 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 openwork gilt bronze plaque decorated with animals and figures discovered in 1969 at Wuwei, Gansu province, now in the Gansu Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji (Compendium of Chinese Bronzes), Vo. 12, Qin/Han, Beijing, 1998, p. 184, no. 179, with description on p. 58.
A very similar quatrefoil design carved on a Sichuan stone relief is illustrated in a rubbing by Chêng Te-k'un, Archaeological Studies in Szechwan, Cambridge, 1957, p.222, fig. 1b.
