A PAIR OF TURQUOISE-INLAID GOLD ‘DRAGON-FISH’ EARRINGS, LIAO DYNASTY

China, 907-1125. Each hollow-cast in two parts and joined at a longitudinal seam, the body in the form of a leaping fish with crested dragon’s head and raised fan-shaped tail, with a ‘pearl of wisdom’ attached beneath the chin, applied with numerous irregular apertures inlaid with turquoise on both sides and along the belly, against finely engraved linear lines and ring-punched ground. A C-shaped long wire hook emerging from the jaws to allow for suspension from the ear.

Provenance: Robert Kuo, RenLu Collection, Los Angeles, United States. Robert Kuo is a well-known designer who works with timeless motifs from the Han and Ming dynasties, often combining them with deco and nouveau influences as well as nature. Assembled over 25 years, acquiring one special object at a time, his private collection (named the RenLu Collection) encompasses scholarly works of art, furniture, sculpture, and jewelry. Born in Beijing, Robert Kuo moved with his family to Taiwan in 1947. Kuo grew up in an artistic environment. His father, an art professor and watercolor painter, started a cloisonné atelier where Robert became an apprentice at age fifteen. Here he learned the painstaking processes of applying enamel to copper, shaping forms with precision, and mastering intricate color applications. These formative years instilled in Kuo a deep respect and appreciation for traditional Chinese decorative arts and an unyielding curiosity about materiality. In 1973, he immigrated to the United States and opened a studio for cloisonné in Beverly Hills. He began experimenting with new shapes, textures, and finishes, and soon developed a unique artistic vocabulary that harmonized Eastern and Western influences. His innovations were quickly recognized and began appearing in high-profile collections, including the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery acquiring his "Goldfish Bowl". By the mid-1980s, Kuo had expanded his repertoire beyond cloisonné, mastering repoussé, a technique of hammering decorative relief onto metal surfaces. He worked with artisans in China, learning and refining ancient metalworking techniques that he would later adapt into his own designs. Over time, his expertise grew to include lacquer, hard stone, and Peking glass. His pieces are found in prestigious spaces such as the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, the Ritz-Carlton Beijing, and the MGM Grand Villas in Las Vegas, as well as in the homes of celebrities such as Beyoncé, Will Smith, and Jennifer Lopez.
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, manufacturing irregularities, small losses, little rubbing, and light warping. One earring with three inlays missing. The inlays with expected minuscule losses, some possibly renewed.

Weight: 16.4 g and 16.8 g
Dimensions: Height 5 cm (each)

U-shaped earrings were a signature body ornament of the Khitan. Similar earrings have been excavated from a number of Khitan tombs. Their unusual shape may be linked to ancient Etruscan and late Byzantine prototypes. Their popularity among the Khitan reflects the long-distance ties of the Liao empire with West Asia (see adornments discovered in the Kargaly Treasure, dated 2^nd century BC-1^st century AD, Kyrgyzstan).

Being a mythological animal, the dragon takes many different forms. One form, according to the Qian que lei shu, by Chen Renxi, is called a zhiwen, and its image is carved on the roofs of buildings and beams of bridges. The zhiwen is said to have a fondness for water and is depicted as a fish with uplifted tail. It appeared on Liao-period funerary ornaments, particularly earrings, and probably served as a kind of talisman. Paired fish are generally understood to be a Buddhist symbol and, as other Buddhist imagery had found its way into Chinese ornament by this time, it is likely that this very popular image on earrings was the result of Buddhist influence.

The pronunciation of the word yu, fish, is similar to that of the word for abundance, making the image of a fish a rebus for wealth. Though this kind of rebus did not develop in China until later, it is possible that this linguistic suggestion may have been intended in six pairs of Ming-period dragon-fish earrings in the Mengdiexuan collection (see Emma C. Bunker and Julia M. White, in Adornment for Eternity: Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, 1994, p. 158, no. 71a). These animated dragon-fish were made using a variety of techniques, often combined, including repoussé, chasing, and soldering, as well as filigree, a technique new to the Chinese at this time.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related gold “sea-goat shaped” ear pendant inlaid with turquoise, dated to the Liao dynasty, 5.2 cm wide, in the Shanghai Museum. Compare a closely related pair of gold dragon-fish earrings, dated to the Liao dynasty, 4.8 cm high, in James J. Lally, Silver and Gold in Ancient China, New York: J. J. Lally & Co, 2012, no. 42. Compare a closely related gold openwork dragon-fish earring inset with turquoise, from the tomb of Yelü Yuzhi, dated by epitaph to the fourth year of the Huitong reign of the Liao dynasty (941 AD), excavated in 1992 at Alukeerqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, included in the exhibition Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire (907-1125), Asia Society, 2006-2007, p. 150-151, no. 25. Compare a closely related pair of turquoise-inlaid gold earrings, believed to have belonged to a sister of Yelyu Abaoji, founder of the Liao Dynasty, exhibited in the Suzhou Museum, La Bella in the Northern Land.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 26 March 2010, lot 1295
Price: USD 12,500 or approx. EUR 16,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of gold makara-form earrings, Liao dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and subject. Note the smaller size (3.8 cm) and lack of turquoise inlays.