Very rare carved bone handle - Lot 62

Lot n° 62
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Estimation :
1000 - 2000 EUR
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Result : 4 000EUR
Very rare carved bone handle - Lot 62
Very rare carved bone handle China, Shang dynasty, 13th-11th century B.C. Slightly curved and hollowed out, in the shape of a dra-gon, the mouth half-open, the head decorated with a horn in the form of a button, both sides of the body decorated with rhombic and triangular motifs, the back decorated with small dots in rectangular cartouches, the belly carved with scale motifs, the tip carved with taotie masks, oxidation (cuprite) adherences at the edge of the tip L. : 13 cm (Wear of time, small shocks, cracks) The object presented here is hollowed out at the end of the dragon's head and has cuprite adherences showing the connection to a bronze object, probably a blade. Its slightly curved shape indicates that it is a handle; a slightly curved ivory handle from the Shang Dynasty (12th-11th century B.C.) is illustrated in The British Museum book of Chinese Art, edited by Jessica Rawson, p. 182, pl. 133; a Shang dynasty piece of almost identical style made of carved deer antler is illustrated in Bones, Horns, Ivories And Shells Unearthed From Yinxu, edited by He Yuling and Li Zhipeng, and is in the collection of the Anyang Museum, under the number A02819. Other objects of the Shang dynasty, close in style, can be compared to our handle: a three-part ivory dragon illustrated in Catalogue Of The Interna-tional Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-6, no. 218, and a marble tripod base also illustrated in the above-mentioned catalogue, no. 252. A small carved bone tiger was sold at Christie's New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, March 21-22, 2013, number 1192, and illustrated in the Early Chinese Art From Private Collections, Eskenazi, catalog, November 3-25, 2016. Expert : cabi-net Delalande
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