Lot 11. A gilt-bronze 'Tiger' fitting, Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). Length 1 1/8  in., 3 cm. Estimate 1,000 — 1,500 USD. Lot sold 2,250 USD. © Sotheby's.

cast in high relief with the beast on its back, four paws in the air, curled tail on its belly, all confined within a circle set against a square base, the interior hollow, Japanese wood box (4).

Provenance: Hirano Kotoken, Tokyo, acquired in the 1970s.

Exhibited: Tokubetsu tenji rikucho jidai no kondoubutsu (Special Exhibition of Gilt-Bronze Buddhist Statues of the Six Dynasties Period), Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art, Izumi, 1991, cat. no. 188.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York, 19 march 2013.