J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Chinese Art: The Szekeres Collection
March 13-29, 2019
28.
A GILT BRONZE ‘QILIN’ MAT WEIGHT
Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220)
heavily cast in the form of a winged feline beast with head twisted to one side and mouth open in a fierce snarl, with knobbed antlers curled back from the forehead and inlaid turquoise staring eyes, the compact muscular body with short wings at the shoulders and a thick curling tail at the rump, the surface enlivened with incised linear details and ring motifs, the feet with sharp claws planted firmly on the circular base cast with a border of wave-like striated peaks, richly gilded all over, the underside flat and plain.
Diameter 2 5⁄8 inches (6.7 cm)
Provenance
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull, acquired from Mathias Komor Gallery, New York, early 1950s
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, Important Chinese Works of Art: the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull, 6 December 1983, lot 59
Exhibited / Published
The Chinese Art Society of America, Small Sculptures: Shang through Sung Dynasties, China House Gallery, New York, February 19 – April 17, 1954, no. 38
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1954
Metropolitan Museum, Chinese Metalwork, New York, 1966
A very similar gilt bronze winged feline beast without the circular base, from the collection of Frederick M. Mayer is illustrated by Dubosc, Mostra d’arte Cinese: Settimo centenario di Marco Polo (Marco Polo Seventh Centenary Exhibition of Chinese Art), Venice, 1954, no. 160.
Compare also the bronze qilin-form weight illustrated by Du (ed.), Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin daxi: qingtong shenghuo qi (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Bronze Articles for Daily Use), Shanghai, 2007, p. 163, no. 141.
漢 銅鎏金獸形蓆鎮 徑 6.7 厘米
