Lot 882. A rare bronze chariot-pole fitting, Mid-Western Zhou dynasty, 10th-9th century B.C.; 4 ½ x 6 1/8 in. (11.4 x 15.7 cm.). Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 25,000. Price realised USD 52,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2020.

The L-shaped, tubular finial terminating in a deer-like head with upright horns with overlapping hooked projections and a loop below the chin, possibly to secure a bell, metal stand.

Provenance: Eskenazi Ltd., London, 23 November 1982.
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Note: This rare bronze chariot fitting features the head of a deer-like hybrid animal that was popular on bronzes in the early Western Zhou dynasty, 11th-10th century BC. A pair of bronze zun vessels in the form of freestanding animal of this type was found in Shigushan, Baoji city, Shaanxi province, and is illustrated in Nobel Life of the Zhou: Bronzes Unearthed from the Cemetery of the Western Zhou Aristocrats at Shigushan of Baoji, Shanghai, 2014, pp. 88-97, nos. 17 and 18. An early Western Zhou bronze gong vessel featuring the head of this type of animal in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Collection of the Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong, 1983, no. 15.

Christie's. Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part II, New York, 24 September 2020