A silver-inlaid bronze annular disc
東周或秦 錯銀青銅車飾
The disc, approximately the proportions of a jade huan, is of even width and flattened section, with a large central aperture. The surface is finely inlaid in silver sheet and wire with a continuous scrolling pattern of whorls and criss- crossing straps. The bronze surface is patinated to a deep reddish-brown colour.
Provenance:
Rosebery’s, 11th November 2020, lot 25
Van Daalen Collection
Ben Janssens, 2013
Private German Collection
Published:
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, 2013, p. 14
For a pair of very similar, though slightly larger, silver inlaid bronze rings, dated to the Qin dynasty, found in Daibaiyang Village, Weiyang district, Xi’an in 1967, see 西安文物精华编委会 名单金银器 “Quintessence of Xi’an Cultural Relics - Gold and Silver Wares”, no. 13, p. 12.
For a reconstructed Han dynasty chariot, but with the original bronze fittings that were excavated from the Huoqubing Tomb in Maoling, Shaanxi, see Imperial China. The Art of the Horse in Chinese History, no. 111, p. 130, where a number of gold inlaid bronze rings are set along the horizontal drawbar. The lower halves of these rings, however, are undecorated where they are set into the drawbar, suggesting that the present ring, and the pair mentioned above, which are all fully decorated, may have had a different, though perhaps related, function.
Dimensions: Diameter: 8.5 cm, 3⅜ inches
Date: Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-221 BC) or Qin dynasty (221-207 BC)
Stock No. 2351
Price: On Request