The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung. Lot 15. A bronze figure standing on a crouching beast, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period (475-221 BC); 22.8 cm. Lot sold: 8,820,000 HKD (Estimate: 500,000 - 700,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

the man with a composed facial expression, detailed with alert eyes and a short moustache, his hair neatly tied under a top hat secured by strings knotted under the chin, wearing a long loosely-fitted robe of thick fabric and a wide belt, his hands grasping a cylindrical vessel in front of the chest, standing solemnly atop of a bear-like beast, the animal depicted with friendly eyes, plump cheeks, rounded ears and a short bushy tail, crouching foursquare with strong limbs and thick paws.

Provenance: JJ Lally & Co., New York, 10th February 1992.

Literature: Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Sculpture and Works of Art , JJ Lally & Co., New York, 1992, cat. no. 28 and cover.

Exhibited: Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Sculpture and Works of Art , JJ Lally & Co., New York, 1992.

Note: The present figure with outstretched arms is holding a short cylinder, probably made to receive the peg of an oil lamp. Wearing an elaborate headdress and a long robe fastened with a sash below the waist, the figure has a carefully articulated face with an intent expression . It appears to be a realistic representation of a man of high social status, but the crouching beast under his feet suggests a religious or mythological meaning to the sculpture.

A Warring States period bronze lamp modelled as a kneeling man with similar facial features, also wearing a headdress and a robe and upholding an oil dish with a forked support was excavated from Shangcunling, Sanmenxia, ​​Henan, and illustrated in Guolong Lai, 'Uses of the Human Figure in Early Chinese Art',  Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 326-32, fig. 9. Another similar kneeling figure, holding a small tube in its hands, presumably to be used as a receptacle of a now-missing oil lamp, is in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, accession no. 50.46.114, and illustrated ibid., fig. 8. It was reputedly unearthed from Jincun near Luoyang, Henan, where a cemetery of the royal family of the Eastern Zhou is believed to be located. An inlay-decorated standing figure wearing a headdress and a long robe, but of a more slender build, is also in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, accession no. 2003.140.3. Compare a further bronze kneeling lamp bearer from the collection of Anthony Hardy, exhibited in  Metal , Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong 2002-06, and sold at Christie's New York, 16th September 2010, lot 897.

Standing in human form. The face is pointed and round, the eyebrows are high, the eyes are raised, the nose is large, the beard is long, the crown of the hair is tied on the top of the head, the hairpin is inserted on one side, and the neck is tied in a herringbone shape. Wearing long boots, double-folding and raising the front, holding the lamp handle in the palm, standing on the back of a creeping beast. The lamp holder is ingenious in design and well-cast, with vivid human figures and beasts as the base, which is stable and heavy but adds a bit of vivid interest, integrating functionality and artistry.

See also a bronze kneeling lamp unearthed in Shangcunling, Sanmenxia, ​​Henan Province, now in the Henan Provincial Museum. Art", "Chinese Bronzes: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2000", Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 326-32, Fig. 9. See also Figure 8 in the same description of a lamp base similar to a kneeling man in the Minneapolis Museum of Art. The lamp plate has been lost. The Minneapolis Museum of Art also has another piece in the collection of a wrong gold and silver bronze ghost sitting on a lamp base, only the human figure is more emaciated, numbered 2003.140.3. For an example from the Siyuantang collection, see Gold, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth: An Exhibition of Hong Kong Antiquities Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-06, sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 897.

Sotheby's. HOTUNG The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1, Hong Kong, 8 October 2022