J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Silver and Gold in Ancient China
March 16 – April 14, 2012
42.
A PAIR OF GOLD DRAGON-FISH EARRINGS
Liao Dynasty (A.D. 907 – 1125)
each in the form of a leaping fish with crested dragon’s head and raised fan-shaped tail, with a “pearl of wisdom” attached beneath the chin, hollow-cast in two parts joined at a longitudinal seam and with numerous irregular apertures on both sides and along the belly, with turquoise bosses held by small pegs in several places, the body of the fish finely engraved with linear details and punched ornament all over, and with a long wire hook emerging from the jaws to allow for suspension from the ear, showing a pale orangey-red surface patina and remains of encrusted earth from burial.
Height 1 7⁄8 inches (4.8 cm)
Compare the similar gold openwork dragon-fish earring inset with turquoise, from the tomb of Yelü Yuzhi, dated by epitaph to the fourth year of the Huitong reign of the Liao dynasty (A.D. 941) excavated in 1992 at Alukeerqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, illustrated in Qidan wangchao: Nei Menggu Liao dai wenwu jinghua, (Qidan Empire: Treasures of the Liao Dynasty from Inner Mongolia), Beijing, 2002, p. 132.
The dragon-fish earring from Yelü Yuzhi’s tomb was also illustrated by Shen (ed.) in the catalogue of the special exhibition organized by the Asia Society, Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire (907-1125), New York, 2006, pp. 150-151, no. 25, together with a pair of gold dragon earrings of this type, loc. cit., no. 26a-b. Compare also the gold earring of similar form in the Mengdiexuan Collection, included in the 1994 exhibition at the Denver Art Museum and illustrated by White, Bunker and Chen in the catalogue, Adornment for Eternity: Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver, 1994, p. 158, no. 71.
遼 摩羯形金耳墜一對 高 4.8 厘米
