China, 475-221 BC. Superbly cast and sumptuously decorated in gold and silver inlay, the L-shaped fittings each depict a pair of dynamic mythical beasts ingeniously joined at the muzzle, creating the illusion of a single animal when viewed from the pointed center. Each beast is portrayed powerfully striding forward, accentuated by the extensive use of curves in the fluid outlines of the muscular body, echoed in the tail, wings, and horn, as well as the delicate inlays, in a way that juxtaposes with the narrow band at the top. (2)

Provenance: Susan Chen, The Sze Yuan Tang Collection. Bonhams Hong Kong, 24 November 2013, lot 465, sold for HKD 525,000 or approx. EUR 75,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing. A European private collection, acquired from the above. Sotheby's New York, 22 March 2023, lot 627, mid-estimate USD 125,000 or approx. EUR 115,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). Susan Chen (d. 2014) was a prominent Hong Kong collector and dealer during the 1980s and 1990s. A long-time member and supporter of the Oriental Ceramics Society, she created the Sze Yuan Tang and Feng Wentang Collections together with her husband Anthony Hardy. Her collections consisted of a wide range of objects, from modern paintings and calligraphies to bronzes, ancient ceramics, and jades, which the couple collected for more than 30 years. In 2016, Bonhams sold parts of the jade collection, which at the time was hailed as the most successful sale of the last decade in this category, reaching a total of HKD 178,000,000 (approximately EUR 20,000,000).
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, minor signs of burial including encrustations and surface corrosion, minor losses to inlays, surface scratches.
French Export License: Certificat d'exportation pour un bien culturel, nr. 169781, dated 14 September 2015, has been granted. A copy of the document accompanies this lot.

Weight: 508 g and 541 g
Dimensions: Height of each element 8.2 cm, Length of each segment 14.2 cm, Total length of each element 28.4 cm

Brilliant gold and silver-inlaid bronzes were popular and widely distributed in China in the Warring States period, from the fifth through third centuries BC. This method of bronze ornamentation was introduced in the preceding Spring and Autumn period, when a diversification of style and technique in bronze manufacturing arose. The artistic and technological advancements of the Eastern Zhou dynasty can be linked to the economic vitality and growing decentralization of political authority that characterized the times. The earliest metal-inlaid bronzes of the sixth century BC employed copper inlay with animal motifs that appear to derive from nomadic art traditions. Later, more abstract designs with curvilinear elements proved most popular with the Chinese. Gold and silver inlay, as well as copper, with colorful additions of turquoise, glass and even lacquer, made bronzes, previously significant chiefly for their political and religious associations, increasingly valued for their sumptuously decorative appeal as luxury items.

The design of this corner mount, which can be interpreted as either two confronted animals that share a common muzzle and mouth, or as a single animal whose body has been split, was being used to decorate bronze vessels as early as the Shang dynasty, and can be seen on two zun of thirteenth century BC date, illustrated by Jay Xu, 'The diamond-back Dragon of the Late Period', Chinese Bronzes: Selected articles from Orientations 1983-2000, Hong Kong, p. 304 (fig. 5a) and p. 305 (figs. 5b and 6). The motif is ideal not only for the sides of a vessel, but also for use as a corner support where the split animal can form a true angle.

The present pair of corner fittings encapsulates not only the technological virtuosity of the bronze workshops in ancient China but also the peak of luxury design in the Warring States period. Like most bronze animal-form sculptures from this period, the current corner fittings had a practical function and were most likely made as a set of four to serve as a corner support for a low table, vessel or tray for an elite or royal patron. See an elaborate Warring States period bronze lamp supported by three related L-shaped fittings, each modeled in the form of a bifurcated mythical beast, excavated from the tomb of King Cuo of Zhongshan at Pingshan county, Hebei province, exhibited in Zhongshan fengyun. Guzhongshanguo wenwu yishu / The Cultural Relics and Art of the Ancient Zhongshan Kingdom, Shanxi Museum, Taiyuan, 2015, cat. no. 122. The placement of mythical beasts at the corners welcomes various angles of viewing and can be found from as early as the Shang dynasty; see two bronze vessels illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese bronzes], vol. 13, Beijing, 1994, pl. 87, and vol. 1, Beijing, 1996, pl. 117.

Very few related corner fittings of this type have been preserved. Compare a silver-inlaid example formerly in the Stoclet Collection, later entering the collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2022, lot 20 (see auction result comparison below); another gilt-bronze fitting without inlay, in the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, Kobe, published in Hakutsuru eiga: hakutsuru bijutsukan meihin zuroku [Selected masterpiece of Hakutsuru Museum], Kobe, 1978, pl. 33; and a third from the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Osaka, 1989, cat. no. 262.

See also four similar silver-inlaid examples, which would have originally formed a set in the Warring States period. Two formerly in the collection of Stephen Junkunc III and now in the collection of Pierre Uldry, are illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber - die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1994, cat. no. 23; the third sold at Christie's New York, 17th March 2017, lot 1009 (see auction result comparison); and the last in the collection of Dr. Paul Singer is illustrated in Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer, Asia Society, New York, 1965, cat. no. 71.

The style of the powerful animal depicted on the present fittings resembles the famous pair of Warring States bronze winged mythical beasts unearthed from the royal tombs of the Zhongshan state, Pingshan county, Hebei province, included in the exhibition Treasures from the Tombs of Zhong Shan Guo Kings: An Exhibition from the People's Republic of China, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, cat. no. 43. See also a gilt-bronze terminal ornament made in the form of a beast head with similar features, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C., exhibited in Chinese Art of the Warring States Period. Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C., Freer Gallery of Art (now the National Museum of Asian Art), Washington, D.C., 1982, pl. 25.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2022, lot 20
Price: HKD 6,930,000 or approx. EUR 796,000 (for one) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An important and extremely rare silver-inlaid bronze corner-piece, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, modeling, inlays (albeit only in silver), and motifs. Note the size (11 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 17 March 2017, lot 1009
Price: USD 271,500 or approx. EUR 306,000 (for one) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare and important silver-inlaid bronze corner mount, Warring States period, 4th-3rd century BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, modeling, inlays (albeit only in silver), and motifs. Note the size (10.5 x 7.9 cm).