An archaic bone carving, Shang dynasty, Anyang period, 14th-13th century BC
The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung. Lot 104. An archaic bone carving, Shang dynasty, Anyang period, 14th-13th century BC; 9.4 cm. Lot sold: 378,000 HKD (Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022
the thick shaft of animal bone incised finely with a pair of large confronted kui dragons shown in profile, coming across the narrow edge to form a zoomorphic mask, and with two smaller kui dragons forming another zoomorphic mask on the opposite edge, all reserved on a dense leiwen (thunder) ground, in a broad frieze below triangular blade motifs, the surface smoothly polished and exceptionally well preserved.
The dating of this lot is consistent with the results of the radiocarbon analysis, certificate no. R18219/NZA3052.
Provenance: Collection of Max Loehr (1903-88).
J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 11th May 1993.
Note: A larger bone carving similarly adorned with ferocious masks and stylised cicadas, formerly in the Gibson and Stoclet collections, is said to be discovered together with five other examples in Anyang, Henan; see Georges A. Salles and Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Collection Adolphe Stoclet, Brussels, 1956, pp. 328-31.
Sotheby's. HOTUNG The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1, Hong Kong, 9 October 2022