A GOLD-, SILVER- AND TURQUOISE-INLAID BRONZE ‘DRAGON’ GARMENT HOOK, WARRING STATES PERIOD
China, 475-221 BC. Superbly cast with a dragon-head hook with neatly inlaid turquoise eyes and crest, finely decorated with a central floral design composed of a turquoise-inlaid circle surrounded by a gold-inlaid band and four ruyi petals, further decorated with turquoise-inlaid angular scroll, terminating in a second dragon head with laidback ears and long snout, the underside with a circular button.


Provenance:
Collection of Miklos Grunberg, and thence by decent in the same family. Mossgreen Auctions, Melbourne, Australia, 2 June 2008, lot 127. A private collection in Melbourne, Australia, acquired from the above. Miklos Grunberg (1918-1988) was born in Budapest, Hungary, and immigrated to Australia in the 1940s. In the early 1950s, he founded a mining consulting firm in Sydney, where he worked for various mining projects including the Uranium mine in Silver Valley. He was an avid collector of Chinese artifacts and works of art, and he donated several pieces to the National Library of Australia.

Condition:
Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, casting flaws, minor losses, tiny nicks, light scratches, small dents, encrustations. The finely polished silver and bronze surface with a rich, naturally grown patina with malachite and cuprite encrustations.

Weight: 121.8 g
Dimensions: Length 20.4 cm


Literature comparison:

Compare a related turquoise inlaid belt hook of thin elongated shape, dated to the Warring States period, published in Julia White et al., Adornment for the Body and Soul: Ancient Chinese Ornaments from the Mengdiexuan Collection, Hong Kong 1999, p. 109. Compare a related garment hook with geometric decorations, 21 cm long, dated 5th-4th century BC, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number F1948.27. Compare a closely related belt hook with a similar four-petal design in the center, albeit inlaid in turquoise, illustrated in Chinese Art from the Collection of H.M. King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, Tokyo and Osaka, 1971, no. 32. Compare a related turquoise-inlaid gilt-bronze belt hook, dated to the 4th century BC, in the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, record number BATEA : 238.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 21 September 2020, lot 308
Estimate: USD 20,000 or approx.
EUR 22,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine and rare inlaid bronze garment hook, Warring States/Western Han dynasty
Expert remark: Note the size (21.3 cm).




戰國錯金銀嵌綠松石龍頭鈎


中國，西元前475-221 年。鑄工精良，龍頭鉤，一頭眼部和頭部鑲綠松石，鑲嵌工整，龍身錯金銀，飾綠松石，形如龍爪；第二個龍頭可見耳朵和長鼻子。身下有一個圓形鈕。


來源：
Miklos Grunberg收藏，自此在同一家族保存；澳洲墨爾本Mossgreen 拍賣行，2008年6月2日，lot 127；墨爾本私人收藏購於上述拍賣。Miklos Grunberg (1918-1988) 出生於匈牙利布達佩斯，二十世紀四十年代移居澳洲。二十世紀五十年代初，他在雪梨創立了一家採礦諮詢公司，負責多個採礦項目，包括銀穀的鈾礦。他收藏中國文物和藝術品，並向澳洲國家圖書館捐贈了多件作品。

品相：
狀態良好，與年齡相稱。廣泛磨損、風化和侵蝕跡象、鑄造缺陷、輕微損失、微小刻痕、輕微劃痕、小凹痕、結殼。精細拋光的銀和青銅表面具有豐富的自然生長的銅綠，帶有孔雀石和赤銅礦結殼。

重量：121.8 克
尺寸：長 20.4 厘米


文獻比較：

比較一件相近的戰國時期細長形綠松石鑲嵌帶鉤，出版於Julia White et al.，《Adornment for the Body and Soul: Ancient Chinese Ornaments from the Mengdiexuan Collection》，香港1999年，頁109。比較一件相近的西元前五至四世紀幾何裝飾衣鉤，長21 厘米，收藏於史密森學會國立亞洲藝術博物館，館藏編號F1948.27。比較一件非常相近的皮帶鉤中央有類似的四瓣設計，也鑲嵌綠松石，見《Chinese Art from the Collection of H.M. King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden》，東京和大阪，1971年，編號32。比較一件相近的西元前四世紀鎏金綠松石鑲嵌帶鉤，收藏於巴斯東亞藝術博物館，館藏編號BATEA : 238。


拍賣結果比較：

形制：相近
拍賣：紐約邦瀚斯，2020年9月21日，lot 308
估價：USD 20,000（相當於今日
EUR 22,000
）
描述：戰國/西漢局部鎏金銅錯銀嵌松石雙獸首帶鈎一件
專家評論：請注意尺寸(21.3 厘米)。