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Expert’s note
This type of fitting originally capped the end of the chariot shaft—the long pole connecting the axle to the horses. The rectangular aperture accommodated a fastening pin that secured it firmly in place. Cast as a powerful horned dragon head, the fitting is lavishly embellished throughout with intricate gold and silver inlay.
China, 475-221 BC. Magnificently cast and beautifully highlighted with gold and silver inlays, the crisply defined visage distinguished by a pair of bulging eyes, a wrinkled snout with closed jaws forming a broad mouth line, framed above by long, finely incised whiskers, and pointed ears, all surmounted by large horns with upward-curving tips.
Provenance: From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York. Alan Hartman (1930-2023) was an influential American art dealer, who took over his parents’ antique business in Manhattan and established the legendary Rare Art Gallery on Madison Avenue, with further locations in Dallas and Palm Beach. His wife Simone (née Horowitz) already served as assistant manager of the New York gallery before the couple married in 1975, and together they built a renowned collection for over half a century and became noted art patrons, enriching the collections of important museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (which opened the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in 2013) as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York. Alan Hartman has been described as the greatest antiques dealer of our generation, and was widely recognized as a world authority in Chinese jade, bronzes, and Asian works of art.
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, casting irregularities, traces of weathering, corrosion, signs of prolonged burial, light warping, small losses to the inlays with some possibly reattached. The bronze with a fine, naturally grown patina with vibrant malachite encrustations.
Weight: 606.3 g (excl. stand), 1,030 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 16.8 cm (excl. stand), 18.4 cm (incl. stand)
With a fitted ‘Alan Hartman’ velvet stand, dating from circa the 1980s or earlier. (2)
Though Chinese tradition asserts that the chariot was invented during the Xia dynasty (possibly 2070 BC–possibly 1600 BC), the horse-drawn chariot is believed to have been introduced in China in the thirteenth century BC, during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC). From the Shang through the Warring States periods, chariots were typically two-wheeled vehicles drawn by two or four horses harnessed to a single draught pole. The chariot initially was a vehicle for hunting and for projecting status, its military role apparently limited to serving as an elevated, mobile command platform, with no evidence that it was used in battle in significant numbers. After the Zhou conquest of the Shang in c. 1046 BC, however, use of the chariot in warfare became much more widespread; in fact, use of war chariots may have played a decisive role in the Zhou overthrow of the Shang.
Among the most powerful emblems in Chinese art and culture, the dragon, or long in Chinese, traditionally symbolized auspicious powers, particularly control over water, including not only rivers, lakes, and oceans, but rainfall, hurricanes, and floods as well. In the early, dualistic view of the world that Daoism would espouse, the dragon came to represent the yang, or male forces of the universe, while its counterpart, the phoenix, or fenghuang, came to stand for the yin, or female forces. In due course, the dragon was adopted as the symbol of the emperor, as the personification of yang forces, just as the phoenix was appropriated as the symbol of the empress, as the embodiment of yin forces.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related gold and silver-inlaid chariot fitting excavated between 1981 and 1983 at Pingliang Tai, Huaiyang, Henan Province, and now in the Henan Provincial Museum. Compare a near identical inlaid bronze chariot shaft head, dated to the Warring States period, on view in the Eastern Zhou Gallery of the Henan Provincial Museum. Compare a related gilt-bronze chariot shaft fitting in the form of a dragon head with silvered decoration and glass inlay, dated ca. 4th century BC, 23.1 cm long, in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number F1932.14a-c.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 10 September 2019, lot 217
Price: USD 150,000 or approx. EUR 169,000 (for two) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare pair of gold and silver-inlaid bronze chariot yoke ornaments, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and decoration with similar gold and silver inlay. Note the much smaller size (6.3 cm) and different subject.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 17 September 2025, lot 165
Price: USD 60,960 or approx. EUR 54,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare silver-inlaid bronze ‘beast head’ chariot ornament, Warring States period to Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of casting and decoration with similar silver inlay. Note the much smaller size (5.8 cm) and lack of gold inlay.
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