A GILT BRONZE ‘CROUCHING BEARS’ BELT SET, LIAO DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A GILT BRONZE ‘CROUCHING BEARS’ BELT SET, LIAO DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY Comprised of a belt buckle, four oval belt plaques, a rectangular belt end, and a double-bear pendant, each finely cast and incised with crouching bears in relief. The reverse of each fitting with projecting pins for securing the backing plate and piercing the leather belt; each of the four oval plaques and the pendant further with a rectangular slot for suspending straps. Dimensions: Size 4.5 cm-9.8 cm With a fitted silk box. (8) Expert’s note: The present lot may once have been part of a larger diexie belt, worn by Liao horsemen as a symbol of wealth and status. A complete diexie belt made of jade, gilt bronze, and silk was discovered from the tomb of the Princess of Chen and Xiao Shaoju in Inner Mongolia, illustrated by H. Shen (ed.) in the catalog of the exhibition organized by the Asia Society, Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China's Liao Empire (907-1125), New York, 2006, p. 142-143, no. 21. The Chinese name for bear, xiong, is a pun for the homophonous word signifying “brave” or “powerful”. The bear shown here is probably the brown bear, ursus arctos, which inhabits a vast area stretching from North America to Asia and Europe. It is less likely that it is the Manchurian black bear, ursus thibetanus ussuricus, which lives mostly in northern Korea, near the border with China. In the arts of China, the bear is seldom represented except during the Han period in which bears appear in jade, gold, silver and bronze. Documented Liao period renderings of this motif are few. However, a jade bear carved in a position similar to that of these plaques was excavated in 1979 in a hoard at Youaicun, Bayanhansumu, Balinyou Banner, Inner Mongolia (see Shanghai Museum (ed.), Caoyuan guibao. Nei Menggu wenwu kaogu jing pin/Treasures on Grassland. Archaeological Finds from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shangai, 2000, p. 150). Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Christie’s New York, 14 September 2018, lot 1170 Price: USD 10,000 or approx. EUR 11,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the related animal design and rich gilding. Note the size (4.8 cm) glass insets.

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