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China, 475 BC-220 AD. Finely cast kneeling on one leg with the other bent, dressed in a flowing skirt with neatly carved folds, holding two asymmetrically arranged cylindrical receptacles with short prickets. The face is expertly modeled and neatly incised with large, thickly lidded almond-shaped eyes, elegantly arched brows, and thin, pursed lips. The head surmounted by a tall conical hat with a hanging tip.
Metallurgy
XRF readings identified copper, tin, and lead as the principal constituent elements of the alloy, indicating a conventional copper–tin–lead bronze. Such alloys are characteristic of Chinese bronzes of the Warring States and Han periods and are consistent with the expected metallurgical composition of the era.
Provenance: From a private collection in London, United Kingdom.
Condition: Very good condition with expected ancient wear and casting irregularities, few minor losses, two small fatigue cracks, signs of prolonged burial, encrustations, areas of corrosion. The bronze has a rich, naturally grown patina with vibrant malachite encrustations.
Weight: 926 g
Dimensions: Height 21.2 cm
Cast bronze figures serving as lamp standards flourished from the Warring States period through the Han dynasty, with examples excavated across China and preserved in museum and private collections. Han lamps depicting foreigners are however exceedingly rare, and the present example is further distinguished by its two projecting oil dishes. The figure is marked as a hu, or non-Han outsider, above all by his costume including the extraordinarily tall, pointed cap. A similar example exhibited by Eskenazi in 1996 (see literature comparison) is described as belonging to “one of the minority groups – perhaps the Xiongnu in the north – living a more or less autonomous existence on the borders of China.” His extraordinary pointed cap draws upon a visual vocabulary closely associated with the Scythian and Saka peoples of Inner Asia; by the Han dynasty, however, such headgear had become a generalized pictorial sign of a northern or western foreigner.
The kneeling pose has precedents in early Chinese jade carving and Warring States bronze lamp supports. Many earlier jade figures are essentially planar, and many bronze attendants compact and frontally organized; here, by contrast, the bearer is modeled fully in the round. The hanging tip of his cap, the flowing garment, and offset receptacles give the figure unusual naturalism and sculptural vitality. The composition also anticipates the foreign tribute-bearer imagery that became familiar in Tang art. Writing of the Eskenazi lamp in a periodical of the Beijing Palace Museum, Ni Yibin regarded it as one of the earliest surviving Chinese images of a pointed-cap hu and as a form of the traditional huren jinbao—the foreigner bringing treasure—motif. The present lamp gives that theme a striking early expression: the kneeling foreigner bears not treasure, but light.
Literature: (“Ni Yibin”): Ni Yibin (倪亦斌), “Kangxi ci zun shang de ‘wushi yishou’ tu (shang)” 康熙瓷尊上的“武士异兽”图（上） [“The ‘Warrior and Strange Beast’ Image on a Kangxi Porcelain Zun, Part I”], Zijincheng 紫禁城 [Forbidden City], 2009, no. 10, pp. 108–111, esp. p. 109, fig. 3.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related bronze oil lamp in the form of a kneeling man wearing a tall cap, 23.4 cm high, dated to the Han dynasty, illustrated and exhibited by Eskenazi, Sculpture & Ornament, London, 1996. Compare a related bronze lamp in the form of a kneeling person, 48.9 cm high, dated to the Warring States period, unearthed at Sanmenxia and now in the Henan Museum.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 22 March 2013, lot 1137
Price: USD 663,750 or approx. EUR 834,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A very rare bronze figural support, Warring States period, 5th-3rd century BC
Expert remark: Compare the related design, manner of casting, and modeling, with similar facial features and pose. Note the size (25.5 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 18 March 2008, lot 74
Mid-Estimate: USD 700,000 or approx. EUR 956,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An unusual archaic bronze 'kneeling foreigner' lamp, Han Dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related design, manner of casting, and modeling, with similar facial features and pose.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 19 March 2021, lot 809
Price: USD 175,000 or approx. EUR 193,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare bronze figural lamp, Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related design, manner of casting, and modeling, with similar facial features and the two receptacles also arranged asymmetrically. Note the size (22.2 cm) and that this foreigner wears a different hat and rides a mythical beast.
* Ni Yibin (倪亦斌), “Kangxi ci zun shang de ‘wushi yishou’ tu (shang)” 康熙
瓷尊上的“武士异兽”图（上） [“The ‘Warrior and Strange Beast’ Image on a
Kangxi Porcelain Zun, Part I”], Zijincheng 紫禁城 [Forbidden City], 2009, no.
10, pp. 108–111, esp. p. 109, fig. 3.
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