EASTERN HAN-SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD, 1ST-4TH CENTURY AD

Details

FOUR SMALL GOLD ORNAMENTS
EASTERN HAN-SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD, 1ST-4TH CENTURY AD
The group comprises: an ornament decorated as a winged figure riding a dragon, the bodies covered in granulation and the eye of the dragon with a turquoise inlay, on a gilded lacquer backing; an openwork gold plaque similarly decorated with a central figure framed by four directional creatures in a square frame; an openwork gold plaque cut from thin gold sheet decorated with a figure riding on a dragon; and an openwork gold plaque of petal shape with silver and turquoise inlays and decorated with numerous scrolls and volutes depicting a cicada.
1 3/8, ¾, 1 ½ and 1 ½ in. (3.3, 1.9, 3.8 and 3.8 cm.) wide; first with wood base with magnifier, others framed

Provenance

Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK20.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 39.

Literature

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 20.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 17, 18, 19, 20.

Exhibited

Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 20.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 10, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

Lot Essay

These small gold ornaments represent how varied personal ornamentation was in China in ancient times, whether made to ornament clothing or the hair.

The first ornament is similar to one excavated in 1979 from the tomb of Zhang Zhen, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and now in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated by James C. Y. Watt et al., China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, p. 28, no. 10, where it is dated Eastern Jin dynasty (AD 317-420) or earlier. A mirror-image pair, dated 1st century BC-1st century AD is illustrated by Catherine Delacour, De bronze, d'or et d'argent: Arts somptuaires de la Chine, Musée Guimet, 2001, p. 247. These are described as having been flattened on a thin lacquer ground that may have been applied to bronze. Another similar ornament is illustrated in Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry: Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, p. 138, no. 115. Also illustrated are two other ornaments similar to the third and fourth described ornaments, p. 139, pls. 116 and 117 (top).

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