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Published & Exhibited: Princeton University Art Museum, Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the ‘Wu Family Shrines’, 5 March-26 June 2005, p. 418, no. 48.
Expert’s note:
This lot is accompanied by a copy of the original typed description issued by J.J. Lally & Co., New York, when the sculpture was acquired by the previous owner.
Particularly noteworthy are the passages pointing to the “well-delineated head” and the surface, which is “gilded all over on the exterior with some areas showing cuprite and malachite patination.”
The original sales price has unfortunately been redacted from the document. According to oral information, however, the figure was acquired for c. USD 20,000, corresponding to approximately EUR 36,000 after adjustment for inflation and conversion at the time of writing.
China, 206 BC-AD 220. Well modeled and hollow-cast in the round in a seated position with right paw resting on the right knee and left paw raised, the head with sharply tapered muzzle and the rounded ears pricked, the back of the head and upper body open with two attachment loops below the ears.
Provenance: J. J. Lally, New York, 1996. A private collection in New York, United States, acquired from the above. The underside of the stand with an old handwritten label, ‘larger […] bear […]’. James J. Lally was a renowned antique dealer and connoisseur, recognized as one of the greatest scholar-dealers of Chinese art, who has been a leader in the field for more than 40 years. After graduating from Harvard College and Columbia University, Lally joined Sotheby’s where he held many positions within the Chinese art department. In 1970 he served as the director of Chinese works of art at Sotheby’s in New York and Hong Kong, and by 1983 was named president of Sotheby’s in North America. In 1986, he founded his namesake gallery, J. J. Lally & Co. Lally fondly recalls the moment, not long after he opened his gallery, when a young man walked through the door with a Shang dynasty gong, a bronze vessel shaped like a gravy boat, decorated with a dragon and tiger and in beautiful condition. It was, Lally described, ‘one of the most important objects I ever had in my hands’. The young man said he had inherited it from his father and was not really interested in Chinese art himself. He wanted to buy a sailboat and wondered if the gong was valuable enough to pay for that. ‘I was very happy to tell him that it was valuable enough to buy two sailboats’, Lally noted. The gallery helped to establish New York as a major center of commerce for Chinese art and allowed Lally to concentrate on his own specific interests, particularly early ceramics, ritual bronze vessels, archaic jade carvings, and sculpture. Lally brought a learned approach to his work, publishing detailed, scholarly catalogs that have remained important reference guides within the field. This meticulous approach continued when he produced his own exhibitions and catalog. Giuseppe Eskenazi, dubbed the ‘Godfather of Chinese Antiques’, and one of the world’s most esteemed Chinese art dealers, also spoke highly of Lally for his achievements in the industry, alongside William Chak from Hong Kong, and the Marchant family from London. In the spring of 2023, Christie’s and Bonhams conducted single owner sales of Lally’s collection which broke several auction records.
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, casting irregularities, signs of prolonged burial, encrustations, few minor fatigue cracks. The gilding exceptionally well preserved with only minor losses. The bronze with a rich, naturally grown patina with malachite and cuprite encrustations.
Weight: 97.9 g (excl. stand), 126.6 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 6 cm (excl. stand), 7.1 cm (incl. stand)
With a fitted metal stand. (2)
The present fitting exemplifies the centrality of naturalistic animal forms in Han visual culture, where depictions of bears, as symbols of strength, enjoyed popularity in this period such that it was never equaled in subsequent ages. These types of fittings served as feet for the legs of small furniture and vessels usually made of bronze, lacquer, and ceramic. Beyond gilt bronze fittings, bears were also cast as bronze sculptural mat-weights, molded as ceramic tiles, in textiles, and as carved jade and hardstone figures.
Bears are native to China, their presence there known since antiquity. They were kept in Han imperial zoos and parks, where the emperor and his entourage enjoyed watching them in performance or in combat with other animals. On the other hand, they were perceived as enlightened creatures and it was believed that they resided in spiritual mountains and possessed the ability to intermediate between heaven and earth. Bears have also been linked with military prowess, shamanism, and immortality. As a corollary, it might be noted that the words for 'bear' and 'virility' are exact homonyms, pronounced xiong. According to the 'Rites of Zhou', Zhou Li, edited during the Han dynasty, bears were employed in exorcism rituals, their skin worn over the head of the performer who, holding a lance and a shield, led the officials to perform the Seasonal Exorcism by searching through houses and driving away pestilences. See J. Lagerway, Early Chinese Religion. Part One. Shang through Han (1250 BC-220 AD), Boston, 2008, page 287.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related gilt-bronze bear-form support, China, Han dynasty, 206 BC-AD 220, 5.6 cm high, in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art, accession number F1917.514.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 16 October 2001, lot 180
Price: USD 10,575 or approx. EUR 17,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An unusual small gilt-bronze bear-form support, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8)
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, gilding, and size (5.7 cm). Note the aperture above the head.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 16 March 2015, lot 2004
Price: USD 52,500 or approx. EUR 65,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt bronze support fitting, Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, gilding, and size (6.6 cm). Note the aperture above the head and the incised fur.
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