A GILT BRONZE ‘BEAR’ WEIGHT, HAN DYNASTY, EX ADOLPHE STOCLET COLLECTION

Published:

A. Koop, Early Chinese Bronzes, London, 1924, page 70, pl. 92.
Georges A. Salles and Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Adolphe Stoclet Collection, Part I, Brussels, 1956, pages 372-373.

China, 206 BC-220 AD. Powerfully cast as a coiled front-facing bear with a menacing expression, its mouth wide open baring its sharp teeth, the round ears pricked up, the fur neatly incised and claws well detailed. The round weight with a small loop to the interior.


Provenance:
From the collection of Adolphe Stoclet, and thence by descent in the Stoclet family. Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949) was a Belgian engineer, financier, and noted collector. He was born into a family of Belgian bankers and became a director of the Société Générale de Belgique after his father’s death. He married Suzanne Stevens (1874-1960), the daughter of the art critic, historian, collector, and dealer Arthur Stevens (1825-1909) and niece of the painter Alfred Stevens (1823-1906). The Stoclets were connected with avant-garde art circles in Paris and Vienna, where they met Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), who designed the Stoclet’s famous Palais in Brussels. Gustav Klimt (1862-1916) painted the murals in its dining room. The Palais Stoclet, today a UNESCO World Heritage site, was the lavish setting to one of the most important eclectic art collections of all times, which included Egyptian and Chinese sculpture, medieval Italian painting and metalwork, enamels and relics, as well as Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art.

Condition:
Magnificent condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, minor nicks and scratches, rubbing to gilt. The lead or cement core to the interior has been removed. The bronze with a rich, naturally grown patina overall and scattered soil, malachite and cuprite encrustations.

Weight: 70.5 g
Dimensions: Diameter 5.5 cm


Expert’s note:
The present lot once had a lead or cement core, enabling its usage as a weight. A small loop to the interior, designed to secure this core, is still in place. The removal of the core may indicate usage as an ornament at some point in its very long history.


Weights
crafted from precious materials such as bronze and jade, often gilded or inlaid with gold, silver or gemstones, were produced in sets of four and served a practical function of anchoring down woven mats for seating. Mats and corner-weights were believed to have been used at banquets, even those laid out in tombs. Inlaid animal-form weights were discovered in the tomb of Dou Wan, consort of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan (d. 113 BC), alongside food and wine vessels.


The bear has been a popular totemic emblem
in China since ancient times. China's foundation myths hold that the legendary Yellow Emperor, or Huang Di, early on lived with his tribe in the northwest, presumably in modern Shanxi Province, but then later migrated to Zhuolu, in present-day Hebei Province, where he became a farmer and tamed six different types of ferocious beasts, including the bear, or xiong, with which the Yellow Emperor ever since has been linked. According to legend, Gun - said to have been the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the father of Yu the Great, or Da Yu - stole a special soil with which he planned to build dikes in an attempt to control the Yellow River's constantly recurring and very devastating floods. He failed in his mission, however, and, as punishment for his theft, was killed by Zhurong, the God of Fire. Gun's corpse turned into a yellow bear, or huangxiong, and jumped into a pool. A while later, a golden bear, alternatively said to be a golden dragon, emerged from the corpse's stomach and ascended into heaven, where the Yellow Emperor instructed it to complete his father's work in taming the Yellow River's waters. That bear turned out to be Da Yu, who - according to popular belief - heroically controlled the floods and became the mythological forefather of China's Xia dynasty. Therefore, the bear has been prominently associated with legendary rulers and Chinese national foundation myths since the earliest times.


Bears are native to China
, their presence there known since antiquity. They were kept in Han imperial zoos and parks, where the emperor and his entourage enjoyed watching them in performance or in combat with other animals. On the other hand, they were perceived as enlightened creatures and it was believed that they resided in spiritual mountains and possessed the ability to intermediate between heaven and earth. Bears have also been linked with military prowess, shamanism, and immortality. As a corollary, it might be noted that the words for 'bear' and 'virility' are exact homonyms, pronounced xiong. According to the 'Rites of Zhou', Zhou Li, edited during the Han dynasty, bears were employed in exorcism rituals, their skin worn over the head of the performer who, holding a lance and a shield, led the officials to perform the Seasonal Exorcism by searching through houses and driving away pestilences. See J. Lagerway, Early Chinese Religion. Part One. Shang through Han (1250 BC-220 AD), Boston, 2008, page 287.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 24 September 2020, lot 888
Price: USD 32,500 or approx.
EUR 35,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt-bronze circular mat weight, Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related circular form and manner of casting and gilding. Note the size (8.6 cm).




漢代銅鎏金熊鎮，前
ADOLPHE STOCLET
收藏


中國，西元前 206 年至西元 220 年。 正面熊身盤成一圈，表情凶狠，齜牙咧嘴，圓耳豎起，細節生動。圓形鎮，內部有一個小環。


出版：
A. Koop，《Early Chinese Bronzes》，倫敦，1924年，第 70頁，圖 92。
Georges A. Salles和Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt，《Adolphe Stoclet Collection》，上冊，布魯塞爾，1956年，第372-373頁。


來源：
Adolphe Stoclet 收藏，是 Stoclet 家族的後裔。Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949 年）是一位比利時工程師、金融家和著名收藏家。他出生於比利時銀行家家庭，父親去世後成為比利時興業銀行董事。他與Suzanne Stevens (1874-1960）結婚，她是藝術評論家、歷史學家、收藏家，也是商人Arthur Stevens（1825-1909）的女兒以及畫家Alfred Stevens（1823-1906）的侄女。Stoclet夫婦與巴黎和維也納的前衛藝術圈有聯繫，在那裡他們遇到了Josef Hoffmann（1870-1956），後者設計了布魯塞爾著名的Stoclet宮。其餐廳的壁畫由Gustav Klimt（1862-1916）繪製。Palais Stoclet 如今已被聯合國教科文組織列為世界遺產，其奢華的環境是有史以來最重要的藝術收藏之一，其中包括埃及和中國雕塑、中世紀意大利繪畫和金屬製品、琺瑯和文物，拜占庭和羅馬時期的藝術品以及前哥倫佈時期的藝術。

品相
：
磨損，輕微刻痕和劃痕，鎏金有磨損。內部的鉛或水泥芯已被移除。表面自然包漿，並散佈著土壤、紅藍色結殼。

重量：70.5 克
尺寸：直徑 5.5 厘米


此類銅鎮用於壓住用於座椅或棋盤遊戲六博的編織墊的角部
。在中山靖王劉勝（西元前 113 年）的王后窦绾的墓中，還發現了動物形鎮，以及食物和酒水器皿。它們通常被製成動物形狀，盤繞成圓形，或者製成人物形狀，甚至山形。 一般為銅鎮，鎏金，嵌寳或錯金銀，銅鎮體現了其所有者的崇高社會地位。


熊在漢代是祥瑞威武之獸。
熊與漢代的思想觀念、熊圖騰信仰等密不可分。 從民俗文化意義上講，它們皆具有驅邪避惡、保護墓主人靈魂不受侵擾、肉體不受侵害的作用，最終目的是説明墓主人升入仙界。


拍賣比較：

形制：相近
拍賣：紐約佳士得，2020年9月24日，lot 888
價格：USD 32,500（相當今日
EUR 35,000
）
描述：漢鎏金銅虎形席鎮
專家註釋：比較相近的圓形的外形、鑄造風格和鎏金。請注意 尺寸 (8.6 厘米)。