A SMALL GOLD PLAQUE

NORTHEAST CHINA, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

Details

A SMALL GOLD PLAQUE
NORTHEAST CHINA, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
The circular plaque is finely cast in openwork as a stylized coiled feline, with two small horizontal, squared attachment loops on the concave back.
1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm.) wide; weight 6.8 g

Provenance

Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no.CK23.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 3 (part).

Literature

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 23.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection. The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 22, pl. 25.

Exhibited

Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. nos. 23.
Stag plaque: New York, Asia House Gallery, "Animal Style" Art from East to West, 1970, cat. no. 129 (part).

Lot Essay

This superbly cast and finished plaque is similar to two published bronze examples. One is illustrated by Mayke Wagner and Herbert Butz in Nomandenkunst: Ordosbronzen der Ostasiatischen Kunstsammlung, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Mainz, 2007, p. 46, no. 36, where it is ascribed to Northeast China, 9th-7th century BC. The other is illustrated by Jessica Rawson and Emma Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 310-11, no. 192. Both of these have a single strap on the reverse.

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