A PAIR OF SILVER- AND GOLD-INLAID BRONZE ‘TIGER’ WEIGHTS, HAN DYNASTY
China, 206 BC-220 AD. Each finely cast and modeled in a recumbent pose with the head raised in a menacing attitude marked by an open mouth showing sharp teeth. The feline’s faces detailed with a broad snout below wide eyes and short ears, their facial features and stripes finely gilt and inlaid with silver. The smoothly finished bronze with a rich, naturally grown patina with malachite and cuprite encrustations. (2)


Provenance
: From the collection of Joseph Rondina, New York, United States, acquired before 2000. Joseph Rondina (1927-2022) was born into a first-generation Florentine-American family in Auburn, upstate New York. Returning to the U.S. after being stationed in Berlin at the end of the Second World War, he studied at the Whitman School of Design before opening Joseph Rondina Antiques on Madison Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1957. In the beginning, his interests focused primarily on European 18th-century decorative arts and furniture, over time developing to include Chinese, Korean, Indian, Thai, Cambodian, Persian and Japanese art, bringing a more esoteric and exotic style to the market. His clientele included stars of the stage and screen, royalty, notables, dignitaries, and denizens of the social register from the United States and abroad.

Condition:
Very good condition, commensurate with age. Wear, casting flaws, signs of weathering and erosion, corrosion, encrustations, nicks, scratches, losses. The ancient bitumen filling normally found inside such weights is lost.

Weight: 161 g and 140 g
Dimensions: Length 5.8 cm (each)


Weights of this type
were used to hold down the corners of woven mats used for seating or for the board game liubo. Inlaid animal-form weights were also discovered in the tomb of Dou Wan, consort of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan (d. 113 BC), alongside food and wine vessels. They were usually made in the shape of animals, often coiled to form a circle, or in the shape of human figures, and even mountains. Usually made of bronze, and often sumptuously decorated in gilding, or inlaid with gold, silver and gemstones, these weights conveyed the high social status of its owner.


The tiger is one of the oldest and most revered animals
in Chinese history. According to Han mythology, the tiger symbolized the Western cardinal point, and in conjunction with the Green Dragon of the West, Vermilion Bird of the South and Black Tortoise of the North, positioned the burial within the spatial-temporal features of the universe. It is possible that tigers were deemed to protect the tomb occupant against the malign influences they may encounter in their afterlife.


Literature comparison:

A related coiled feline shape can be seen in a pair of gilt-bronze weights, and in a set of four agate weights, all dated Western Han dynasty, illustrated by M. Wang et al., in the exhibition catalog, A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2006, pp. 76-7, nos. 1 and 2. See related excavated examples of bronze recumbent tiger paperweights, in the Shenmu County Museum, illustrated in Bronzes from Northern Shaanxi, Vol. V, Chengdu, 2009, p. 964-966. Two tiger-shaped weights were also exhibited in the Biennale Des Antiquaries, illustrated by C. Deydier, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Paris, 2014, p. 49.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2022, lot 145
Price: HKD 176,400 or approx.
EUR 21,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A silver-inlaid bronze ‘tiger’ weight, Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related pose, manner of casting, and inlaid decoration. Note the size (7 cm) and that this result is for a single weight only.




漢代一對錯金銀伏虎銅鎮


中國, 公元前206至公元220年。銅鎮精心鑄造，呈臥姿，抬頭，雙目圓睜，寬鼻濶嘴，露出鋒利的牙齒。面部錯金銀，銅表面具有自然包漿，上面鑲嵌著紅藍色結殼。 (2)


來源
：
美國紐約Joseph Rondina收藏，購於2000年之前。Joseph Rondina (1927-2022) 出生於紐約州北部奧本的第一代佛羅倫薩美國人家庭。第二次世界大戰結束後駐紮在柏林，後回到美國。之後他在惠特曼設計學院學習，於 1957 年在曼哈頓上東區的麥迪遜大街開設了 Joseph Rondina 古董店。一開始，他的興趣主要集中在歐洲十八世紀的裝飾藝術和家具。隨著時間的推移，他開始收集印度、中國、韓國和日本的藝術。他的客戶包括來自美國和國外的銀幕明星、皇室成員、名人、政要和社會名流。

品相
：
狀況極好，有磨損、鑄造缺陷、風化和侵蝕跡象、腐蝕、結殼、刻痕、劃痕和缺損。通常在此類銅鎮內有的古老瀝青填充物已消失。

重量：分別161克與 140克
尺寸：各長5.8 厘米


此類銅鎮
用於壓住用於座椅或棋盤遊戲六博的編織墊的角部。在中山靖王劉勝（西元前 113 年）的王后竇綰的墓中，還發現了動物形鎮，以及食物和酒水器皿。它們通常被製成動物形狀，盤繞成圓形，或者製成人物形狀，甚至山形。一般為銅鎮，鎏金，嵌寳或錯金銀，銅鎮體現了其所有者的崇高社會地位。


老虎是中國歷史上最古老、最受推崇的動物之一
。在漢族神話中，虎守護東方，與西方的青龍、南方的朱雀、北方的玄武一起。 老虎被認為可以保護墓主人免受死後可能遇到的邪惡影響。


文獻比較：


一對相近的西漢鎏金銅紙鎮和西漢一組四件瑪瑙紙鎮，見M. Wang主編，展覽圖錄《A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China》，Isabella Stewart Gardner 博物館，波士頓，2006年，頁76-7，編號1和2。見相近的一件青銅臥虎紙鎮，收藏於Shenmu County博物館，見《Bronzes from Northern Shaanxi》，卷五，成都，2009年，頁964-966。兩件虎形紙鎮展覽於Biennale Des Antiquaries，見C. Deydier，《Ancient Chinese Bronzes》，巴黎，2014年，頁49。


拍賣結果比較：

形制：相近
拍賣：香港蘇富比，2022年10月9日，lot 145
價格：HKD 176,400（相當於今日
EUR 21,000
）
描述：漢銅錯銀盤虎形鎮
專家評論：比較相近的姿勢、鑄造風格和鑲嵌裝飾。請注意尺寸 (7 釐米) 。