A pair of bronze axle caps and linchpins,Wei andXiaSpring and Autumn period (770 to 476 BCE)with a fitted box,the axle caps 13.5cm long (4).Provenance: 春秋 青銅蟠虺紋軎轄一對 及盒The practice of burying such worldly goods as chariots and horses with deceased rulers and aristocrats began in the Shang dynasty and continued throughout the Bronze Age and the Qin dynasty. While chariots made of wood have long since perished, many of their fittings have survived, including bronze axle caps such as this lot. A closely related pair of axle caps was excavated at Bianjiazhuang in Long county, Shaanxi in 1986, and currently in the collection of Long County Museum. The patterns on the axle caps are almost identical, so are the animal masks on the linchpins except for the additional smaller tiger heads on the masks in the current lot, making this lot more desirable.The Long county pair was exhibited withThe First Emperor: China's Entombed Warriors, Art Gallery of New South Wales. See the exhibition catalogue, Liu Yang and Edmund Capon, Sydney, 2010, p. 64-65, no. 32.華夏民族厚葬的傳統，乃至將世俗器物如車馬器等也隨統治階級身後一同入土幽冥的習俗從商代伊始橫梗整個青銅時代至秦朝。車馬的木製主體隨時間瓦解，而以青銅製成的軎轄等，如此拍品，存留了下來。與此號中形制紋案幾乎完全相同的一對青銅軎轄，1986年出土於陝西隴縣邊家莊，現藏於隴縣博物館。軎上蟠虺紋一致，而轄上尖耳獸面中，此號還另外點綴了一只小虎頭，更顯設計者匠心獨具。隴縣博物館軎轄曾於2010年參展紐省博物館「秦始皇及其地下大軍」，見展覽圖錄，Liu Yang and Edmund Capon, 悉尼，2010年，頁64-66，圖版32。