Lot 9804. A bronze figure of a chi tiger, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period; 43.5 cm, display stand. Lot Sold 3,328,000 HKD (Estimate 1,500,000 - 3,000,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2026
 

Provenance: Feng Wen Tang Collection.
 

Note: Graceful in its stance, substantial in its presence and size, magnificent in its surface design, the present tiger exemplifies the skill and creativity of Eastern Zhou artisans at the zenith of bronze production.

For most of China’s Bronze Age, craftsmen had relied on the piece-mould technique – producing ritual vessels from large clay segments which, while magnificent, are frequently austere and static in their composition. In contrast, with the advent of lost-wax casting from the West around the 6th century BCE, casters of the Eastern Zhou were able to achieve almost any form in bronze, filling their designs with a sense of three-dimensionality, movement and life unprecedented in the history of Chinese bronze-casting. In this regard, the present tiger is no exception. Swirling with vitality, its shoulders tensed, its claws poised, its face and tail snarling with ferocious majesty; the present figure embodies the sensitivity for form and design perfected by these Eastern Zhou craftsmen.

Like almost all figural work attested from the period, the present piece was almost certainly derived from a broader vessel for which it served as a handle or fitting. Compare related hook-shaped handles in the form of tigers on monumental water basins (jian) and square vases (fanghu) excavated from Eastern Zhou sites, including two fanghua included in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan [The quintessence of Chinese cultural relics]. Qingtong juan [Bronzes], Hong Kong, 1994, pls 697 and 698, the latter one of a pair now preserved in the Henan Museum with similar casting techniques in their dragon scroll-work, bases and crane finials.

While the origins of the present fitting have been lost to history, its hooked form – almost akin to an oversized belt hook – bears a striking resemblance to hooks used to support ritual bells in royal funerary contexts. Compare closely related hooks excavated from the most famous and complete examples of these bells, uncovered from the sumptuously decorated tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (d. after 433 BCE) in Leigudun Community, Suizhou, Hubei province, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese bronzes], vol. 10: Dong Zhou [Eastern Zhou], pt. 4, pls 151-155, particularly detail pl. 154.

In its subject matter and exceptional sculptural quality, the present tiger bears a close resemblance to a small group of archaic bronze fittings that reached Europe and America in the early twentieth century through dealers including C.T. Loo (1880–1957), entering esteemed cross-category collections including those of engineer Adolphe Stoclet (1871–1949) and banker David David-Weill (1871–1952). Compare the sculptural form and rich surface detailing of the famous leaping dragon handle from the Stoclet Collection, now preserved in the Louvre Abu Dhabi (accession no. 2017.001), illustrated in Umehara Sueji, Shina Kodo Seika / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America, vol. 6, Osaka, 1933, pl. 38; two dragon-formed handle fragments preserved in the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, pls 39 and 40; and a closely related vessel foot, also from the Stoclet Collection, shaped like an upright tiger but slightly later in style than the present, pl. 16. Finally, also compare a closely related group of smaller Eastern Zhou vessel stands in the form of sinuous tigers, including one in the Schoenlicht Collection, illustrated in H. F. E. Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium, Amsterdam, 1948, pl. 68; and one from the David-Weill Collection, sold in our Paris rooms, 16th December 2015, lot 40.

Sotheby's. Zoomorphia: Animal Forms in Ancient China | Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 5 May 2026