Description Gazelle of Immortality
Cast bronze and gilded, with integrated cowrie shell, two small damages on the upper side of the shell
Length appx. 92 mm, high appx. 50 mm, depth appx. 60 mm
late western or early eastern Han period ca.100 B.C. - 100 A.D.
Provenance: Private collection Hong Kong, Sotheby’s 1993, E&J Frankel, private collection Austria
Unusually rare and, in contrast to most of the few comparative pieces, excellently preserved representation of the symbol of Long Life. The cowrie shell with its spotted surface is reminiscent of the fur of a gazelle and represents the back of the crouching animal, the head, the antlers attached to the back and the extremities are cast in situ in bronze and fire gilded.
What remains a mystery is the technique of casting the bronze, which is heated to 800°C, in such a way that the shell did not shatter, as the production was undoubtedly carried out in a single operation. This piece seems to be the probably most finely executed and best preserved of its kind so far.
The most frequent damage naturally concerns the delicate shell, in most cases it is missing completely, as in the case of the piece in the 700-year-old Marco Polo Exhibition, Venice 1954, Kempe Collection, cat. No. 157 and both from the Falcon Collection, currently in the Art Institute in Chicago.
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