17th Oct, 2024 11:00

TWO-DAY AUCTION: Fine Asian Art, Buddhism and Hinduism

 
Lot 56
 

56

A RARE AND IMPORTANT ARCHAIC BRONZE AXE, YUE, SHANG DYNASTY, LATE ANYANG PERIOD

Sold for €9,750

including Buyer's Premium


Lot details

China, 12th-11th century BC. Finely cast, the wide flattened blade flaring towards the curved cutting edge, both sides decorated with a large taotie mask formed by addorsed dragon heads arched above a flanged mouth with fangs, the asymmetrically placed tang (nei) pierced with a hole below a taotie panel cast in thread-relief.

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, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, casting flaws, nicks, losses. The bronze is covered in a rich, naturally grown patina with vibrant malachite as well as scattered cuprite and azurite encrustations.

Weight: 286 g
Dimensions: Length 16.5 cm

Expert’s note:
The line-work on the taotie decoration on this present lot is particularly fine. The taotie would have been inlaid, probably with turquoise or other precious materials. A very rare example with intact inlay was sold at Christie's London, 6th June 1994, lot 67.

Literature comparison:
This piece belongs to an important group of Shang axe heads featuring taotie masks and stylized gaping mouths. A closely related axe-head was found among hundreds of bronze weapons in the famous late Shang tomb of high-ranking imperial consort and military commander Lady Hao (ca. 1200 BC), illustrated in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, Beijing, 1980, pl. 69, fig. 1, with a line drawing on p. 106, fig. 66:2. Several similar examples from early European collections are known. Compare examples from the Oeder Collection and the Malmö Museum, illustrated in J. G. Andersson, 'The Goldsmith in Ancient China', in Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 7, 1935, pl. I: 1 and 2; and another from the Oppenheim Collection, now in the British Museum, with stylized mouth rendered in openwork, exhibited in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-1936, cat. no. 267.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 20 March 2012, lot 3
Price: USD 80,500 or approx. EUR 102,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An archaic bronze ritual axe-head, Yue, Shang dynasty, 12th/11th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of casting, and decorations.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, 14 June 2024, lot 181
Price: EUR 66,000
Description: An archaic bronze axe, Yue, Shang dynasty, late Anyang period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of casting, and decorations. Note the size (20.4 cm).

 

China, 12th-11th century BC. Finely cast, the wide flattened blade flaring towards the curved cutting edge, both sides decorated with a large taotie mask formed by addorsed dragon heads arched above a flanged mouth with fangs, the asymmetrically placed tang (nei) pierced with a hole below a taotie panel cast in thread-relief.

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, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, casting flaws, nicks, losses. The bronze is covered in a rich, naturally grown patina with vibrant malachite as well as scattered cuprite and azurite encrustations.

Weight: 286 g
Dimensions: Length 16.5 cm

Expert’s note:
The line-work on the taotie decoration on this present lot is particularly fine. The taotie would have been inlaid, probably with turquoise or other precious materials. A very rare example with intact inlay was sold at Christie's London, 6th June 1994, lot 67.

Literature comparison:
This piece belongs to an important group of Shang axe heads featuring taotie masks and stylized gaping mouths. A closely related axe-head was found among hundreds of bronze weapons in the famous late Shang tomb of high-ranking imperial consort and military commander Lady Hao (ca. 1200 BC), illustrated in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, Beijing, 1980, pl. 69, fig. 1, with a line drawing on p. 106, fig. 66:2. Several similar examples from early European collections are known. Compare examples from the Oeder Collection and the Malmö Museum, illustrated in J. G. Andersson, 'The Goldsmith in Ancient China', in Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 7, 1935, pl. I: 1 and 2; and another from the Oppenheim Collection, now in the British Museum, with stylized mouth rendered in openwork, exhibited in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-1936, cat. no. 267.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 20 March 2012, lot 3
Price: USD 80,500 or approx. EUR 102,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An archaic bronze ritual axe-head, Yue, Shang dynasty, 12th/11th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of casting, and decorations.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, 14 June 2024, lot 181
Price: EUR 66,000
Description: An archaic bronze axe, Yue, Shang dynasty, late Anyang period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, manner of casting, and decorations. Note the size (20.4 cm).

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