Lot 713
713
A SET OF THREE BRONZE 'NESTING' SEALS
This lot is offered without reserve.
A SET OF THREE BRONZE 'NESTING' SEALS

CHINA, SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD (AD 222-589)

Details
A SET OF THREE BRONZE 'NESTING' SEALS
CHINA, SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD (AD 222-589)
Comprising a small square seal with a loop-shaped finial, fitted within a larger square seal surmounted by a qilin-form finial, and in turn encased within a further larger square seal with a similar qilin-form finial, all seal faces with seal script characters
1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) high overall, wood box
Provenance
The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1998.
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve.

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Gemma Sudlow
Gemma Sudlow

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212 636 2000

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Lot Essay

Nesting seals became popular beginning in the Han dynasty. A similar set of three nesting bronze seals dating to the Han period is in the Beijing Palace Museum, and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 30 - Ancient Seals, Hong Kong, 2008, no. 329. For another nesting seal of this type, also surmounted by a mythical beast and dated Six Dynasties, see Rikucho no bijutsu (Art of the Six Dynasties), Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1975, p. 18, no. 2-58.

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