A rare Ordos turquoise-inlaid gold ram fitting, Spring and Autumn period
Lot 6. A rare Ordos turquoise-inlaid gold ram fitting, Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC), 4.3cm, 1 5/8 in. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 GBP. Lot sold 26,900 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.
realistically cast with a front leg curled under the body and the outer hind leg bent up to its nose as if scratching, the head raised high and surmounted by a fine pair of curled horns, traces of turquoise inlay, two pins on the reverse for attachment. Weight 60g.
Exhibited: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 21.
Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 21.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 16.
Note: Four cast gold fittings of almost identical shape and size were discovered at Fengxiang county in Shaanxi province. Datable to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, they are thought to be harness or chariot fittings, see Zhongguo meishui quanji. Gongyi meishu bian, vol. 10, Beijing, 1987, pls. 4 and 5.
Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008