A RARE GILT-JADE FIGURE OF A MYTHICAL BEAST, TIANLU, HAN DYNASTY

拍品描述

A RARE GILT-JADE FIGURE OF A MYTHICAL BEAST, TIANLU, HAN DYNASTY Expert’s note: The surface retains extensive layers of pigments and gilding, characteristic of ancient decorative techniques. Such decoration on jades, however, is extremely rare. The only notable comparison in this regard is a gilt jade figure of a bear also from the Estate of Edith and Joel Frankel, sold in these rooms on 16 October 2025, lot 122 (see auction comparison below). The two gilt jades, the bear and this tianlu, where kept as a group of two by the Frankels and always displayed together. No other examples were present in their collection, nor are any others known to us. The gilt jade bear showed few small areas where the coating—composed of barium sulfate with silicate minerals, iron and potassium chlorides, copper, and traces of gold and brass—had been partially removed with modern tools to reveal the jade beneath, sometime in the last 100 years as evidenced by microscopic steel shavings, though the jade core remained untouched and well preserved, much like that of the present lot. China, 206 BC-AD 220. Finely carved, the mythical creature depicted in a recumbent stance, with its legs tucked beneath the body and its long tail extending underneath before emerging in a bifurcated form from the left side. The powerfully modeled head slightly raised, marked by a pair of bulging eyes and a pronounced snout with a gaping mouth revealing sharp fangs. The finely polished stone, of a deep celadon tone enlivened by icy white inclusions, is richly adorned with a thin layer of ancient gilding. Dimensions: Length 9.6 cm The image of the lion was still taking shape in China during the Han dynasty. Living lions reached the Eastern Han court as tribute from the Western Regions, but remained exotic animals rarely encountered firsthand, and sculptors interpreted their unfamiliar appearance through the established visual language of tigers, dragons, and protective spirit beasts. The result was a fluid family of leonine forms, ranging from the horned and often winged creatures conventionally called tianlu and bixie to increasingly recognizable, maned lions. Compare the monumental stone tianlu excavated at Chenjiaqiao near Xianyang in 1991, now in the Xi’an Beilin Museum, included in the exhibition Splendeurs des Han, Musée Guimet, 22 October 2014-1 March 2015, Paris. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Zacke Vienna, 16 October 2025, lot 122 Price: EUR 28,600 Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, and stone, similarly covered in ancient gilding. Note the size (7.6 cm). Also note the identical provenance (see expert’s note above for more details).

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