Lot 1. Plaque en Bronze, Mongolie Intérieure, Ordos, VIe-Ve siècle avant J.-C. Long. 15 cm. Estimation 12,000 — 15,000 EUR. Lot vendu 123,000 EUR. © Sotheby's 2015.

sculptée en forme d'un tigre puissant s'apprêtant à dévorer une antilope recroquevillée entre ses pattes, le corps parcouru de sillons imitant des cordages, deux boucles plates au revers pour l'attacher, le bronze enrichi d'une patine vert pâle.

Note: Following the exploration of the desert regions in the north, northwest and northeast of China in the early 1900s, numerous small bronze fittings and plaques featuring animals in combat made by the nomadic cultures of the Eurasian steppes appeared on the art market and found their way into Western collections. A pair from the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas, first illustrated in the Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935-1936, cat. nos. 151 and 161, was discussed in Emma Bunker et. al. 'Animal Style' Art from East to West, New York, 1972, cat. no. 84. A bronze plaque of the same design but of slightly larger size was acquired from C. T. Loo in 1937 by the Musée Cernuschi in Paris, published in Gilles Béguin, Art Animalier. Les Collections de Haute Asie du Musée Cernuschi. Iran, Caucase et Steppes Orientales, Paris, 2012, pp. 134-135, cat. no. 125.