A RARE AND FINE JADE AND GILT-BRONZE ‘DRAGON’ BELT HOOK, WESTERN HAN DYNASTY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published:
1. Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 74, no. 159.
2. Myrna Myers (ed.) & Filippo Salviati (auth.), The Language of Adornment. Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass, Paris, 2002, no. 45.

Exhibited:
1. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Montréal, 17 November 2016-19 March 2017.
2. Kimbell Art Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Fort Worth, Texas, 4 March-19 August 2018.

China, 3rd century BC. Of elegant sinuous form, the broad jade shaft topped by a raised openworked design of intertwined serpents, above two curved feet, each fitted with a bronze animal mask, opposite the gilt-bronze hook terminating in a dragon head, the reverse with a circular button. The semi-translucent stone of a bluish green tone with icy inclusions and extensive areas of creamy ivory-white calcification.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Ancient wear, signs of prolonged burial, traces of weathering, casting irregularities, encrustations. One section of the intertwined serpents with an old repair. The stone with natural fissures, some of which have developed into small hairline cracks. The bronze with losses to gilt and a rich, naturally grown patina with malachite encrustation. The jade shows distinct signs of verdigris penetration and also calcification.

Weight: 146.4 g
Dimensions: Length 12 cm

With a padded silk storage box. (2)

The adoption of cavalry and the dress style of the nomadic tribes prompted in China the creation of many accessories closely related to the new outfit: belt hooks and belt buckles, garment hooks, fittings for iron swords, horse trappings and archery-related accessories. Besides their utilitarian function, these accessories also communicated the high status of their owners. Since jade had played this function up to the moment preceding these innovations, it is unsurprising to find it used during the Warring States and Han periods in the ornamentation of belt buckles like the present lot and other accessories forged in metal. Sometimes items commonly made in metal were entirely carved in jade, thus showing not only an adaptation of foreign elements derived from the nomadic people, but their full integration into the Chinese cultural sphere. Jade was considered precious by the Chinese and valued above anything else. Jades functioned not only as ritual and burial items during this time, but also as objects of personal adornment for the living. Other luxury materials, such as gold, bronze, and glass began to be incorporated with jades with greater frequency.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related jade and gilt-bronze garment hook, 9 cm long, dated Warring States to Western Han period, in the National Museum of Asian Art, accession number F1953.82. Compare a related jade-inlaid gilt-bronze belt hook, 16.5 cm long, dated 4^th-3^rd century BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1974.268.1.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2023, lot 3856
Price: HKD 406,400 or approx. EUR 46,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A jade and gilt-bronze belt hook, The jade: Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period; the bronze later
Expert remark: Compare the closely related technique with the jade and bronze similarly joined. Note the related size (11 cm). In light of the low estimate of HKD 10,000 and lengthy bidding war for this lot, it is plausible to assume that bidders were left unconvinced by Sotheby’s assertion that the bronze may be “later”.