Lot 176. Property from the Junkunc Collection. A rare gilt-bronze 'mythical beast' weight, Ming dynasty. Length 7 cm; 18k wood stand (2). Lot Sold 89,600 USD (Estimate 40,000 - 60,000 USD) © Sotheby's 2026

Provenance: Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: This bronze weight is exceptional for the extraordinary quality of its gilding and the fine details. The animal’s relaxed pose is rendered in a highly naturalistic manner, in contrast to its exaggerated bulging eyes and menacing teeth.

Small animal sculptures such as the present were made from the early Ming dynasty, due to a renewed interest during the Xuande reign for bronze wares intended for the scholar’s desk. Examples from this period are however very rare, and no other paperweight of this form and design appears to have been published. Compare a paperweight in the form of a scaly mythical beast, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong exhibition Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 194, together with a censer featuring dragons with related menacing features, inscribed with a Xuande mark and of the period, cat. no. 139; and another paperweight sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 4th April 2017, lot 68. Compare also a gilt-bronze bixie figure, attributed to the Song to Ming dynasty, from the John D. Rockefeller Collection now in the Asia Society, New York, acc. no. 1979.111.

Paperweights of this type originate from bronze mat weights made in the Western Han dynasty, although their popularity increased in the Tang when bronze and jade versions were made in relatively large numbers. A jade mythical animal carved in a similar pose and with a pronounced spine, was included in the exhibition Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1975, cat. no. 196.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art, New York, 25 March 2026