Lot 6003. A fine and rare gold cast ornamental plaque, Warring States Period (481 BC-403 BC). Estimate US$ 30,000 - 50,000 (€27,000 - 44,000). Photo: Bonhams.
Intricately cast and detailed, the plaque centered with a pair of intertwined creatures with scaly bodies supported on two hollow struts rising out of further intertwined bodies issuing composite heads or groups of heads on eight other hollow struts, the reverse showing concave surfaces to the intertwined bodies and circular openings to the struts. 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 3 1/8in (2 x 7 x 8cm) 124 grams
Provenance: J. J. Lally, purchased January 1999.
On Loan and Exhibited: The Denver Art Museum, 1999 - 2016; (Loan 1999.2).
Notes: A gold plaque of similar form, size and weight was published in the Museum Rietberg exhibition, Gold und Silber: die sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1994, p. 74, cat. 13 (2 x 7.1 x 6.6cm, 134 grams). A plaque of simpler form comprising eight animal heads was exhibited at the Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies at the University of Hong Kong,Celestial Creations. Art of the Chinese Goldsmith: the Cheng Xun Tang Collection, 2007, pp. 66-67, A31.E.
Of larger size and even more elaborate animal interlace, see the cast gold openwork sword hilt from the earlier Eastern Zhou period, preserved in the British Museum and discussed by Jessica Rawson in relation to jade carving inChinese Jade: from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp. 60-66 and illustrated as fig. 46, p. 63 (9cm high).
Bonhams. THE JOHN AND CELESTE FLEMING COLLECTION OF CHINESE FURNITURE AND WORKS OF ART, 2016-09-12 10:00 EDT - NEW YORK