A RARE CHINESE GILDED BRONZE DRAGON-HEAD FINIAL, HENGMOSHI

A RARE CHINESE GILDED BRONZE DRAGON-HEAD FINIAL, HENGMOSHI
EASTERN HAN DYNASTY

Cast as a hollow ferocious dragon-head baring its teeth, with flared nostrils and long slender horns, the mane with fine hair markings, the neck with faint incised scales, 167g, 14.5cm.

Provenance: the H K Burnet Collection, sold Sotheby’s, 4th April 1941, lot 382 for £11; then the collection of Mark Dineley (1901-75), and thence by descent.

Exhibited: the Bradford College Exhibition, 1932, Catalogue no.25.

H K Burnet, of 9 Selbourne Villas, Bradford, had an extensive collection of Chinese ceramics, bronzes, archaic jades and works of art. Following his death, his collection was sold by Sotheby’s over three days in April 1941. Burnet lent four pieces to the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-36, at the Royal Academy, London.

An almost identical finial in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no.1992.165.25, donated by Charlotte and John Weber was exhibited: Arts of Ancient China, 2005. Another is on display at the British Museum, room 33, cabinet 6A, no.13. A similar example from the Worch Collection is illustrated with another from the Stoclet Collection by Umehara, Shina-Kodo Seikwa, part III, vol.I, pl.64. The Stoclet finial is also very similar, and was exhibited at the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-36, at the Royal Academy, London, catalogue no.541.

The fitting is also very similar to one excavated from Han tomb No.2 at Ganquan in Hanjiang, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1981:11, pl.2, fig.5 and p.6 fig.15.

For a larger gilded bronze terminal, see Eskenazi Ltd., Masterpieces from Ancient China, London, 2000, no.10, sold Christie’s, London, Property from the Collection of Jonathan Benthall and Zamora Menuhin Benthall, 25th March 2022, lot 730; and for another closely related example, see Christie’s New York, 16th September 2010, lot 917.

東漢 銅鎏金龍型衡末飾
來源：蘇富比，H K Burnet 收藏，1941年4月4日·編號382，£11的價格購得。Mark Dineley（1901-75）收藏，之後由其後人繼承。Mark Dineley為當時威立士拍賣行拍出的著名元青花葫蘆瓶的藏家，亞歷山大的後人。
展覽：The Bradford College Exhibition, 1932年, 圖錄編號 25。

車衡為古代戰車上重要的構建之一，呈管狀，是設於車轅前端的橫木。衡末飾安裝在車衡的兩端， 對車衡起到保護及裝飾作用。戰車衡末飾具有武器功用，且此龍首衡末飾工藝精湛，製作完美，為當時身份尊貴的象征。此種龍首衡末飾目前查證四例，其一在大英博物館（room 33, cabinet 6A, no.13）。其二曾在紐約大都會藝術博物館（no.1992.165.25）展出，另1935-1936年，斯托克萊（Stoclet）家族曾借展倫敦皇家藝術學院。本拍品則為第四例。