H x W x D: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.4 cm (3 5/16 x 2 1/16 x 3/16 in)
Type:
Jewelry and Ornament
Origin:
Anyang, probably Henan province, China
Date:
ca. 1300-ca. 1050 BCE
Period:
Late Shang dynasty, Anyang period
Description:
A human figure is presented in profile, with an overly large head and with arms bent at the elbow and with hands turning back to the shoulder. The legs, which are also bent, are treated in a summary fashion. Above the human head is a single-horned dragon, its body arching downward following the concave contour of the human figure. Curving projections and a tail lend the dragon a flamboyant appearance that contrasts with the compact abstraction of the human figure. Incised lines, some of them slanting, define the details of the dragon and the human figure. (Pencil marks [?] on edge; flaws on edges; few flaw cracks; cloudy; cinnabar adhering.)
Provenance:
To 1959
Abel William Bahr (1877-1959), Shanghai, China, London, England, Montreal, Canada, New York, NY, and Ridgefield, Connecticut [1]
From 1959 to 1963
Edna H. Bahr (d. 1978), by descent from her father, Abel William Bahr
From 1963 to 1987
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York, purchased from Edna H. Bahr in 1963 [2]
From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [3]
Notes:
[1] According to information provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009.
[2] See #351:
"Man with hip circle and Kuei," on list provided by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, October 9, 2009, copy in object file.
[3] Pursuant to the agreement between Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and the Smithsonian Institution, dated July 28, 1982, legal title of the donated objects was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on September 11, 1987.
Collection:
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Exhibition History:
The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)
