Lot 8059. A gilt-bronze figure of a mythical bird, Han Dynasty; 3 3/4in (9.5cm) high. Estimate US$ 6,000 - 8,000 (€5,400 - 7,200). Sold for US$ 4,750 (€ 3,858). Photo: Bonhams.

Cast in the form of a strutting bird, chest puffed out, wings stretched back and out, with a large upright tail plume and petal-form cranial plume, the sinuous neck craned back, the beak grasping a small object, all on a tall pair of legs and large talons, the body inset with circular stone and glass cabochons of green and red. 

Provenance: TK Antiques, April 2003

Notes: Compare a turquoise-inlaid gilt-bronze 'peacock' finial from the Sze Yuen Tang Collection, dated Eastern Han/Six Dynasties, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, sale 20960, 24 November 2013, lot 536. Two related gilt-bronze finials dated to the Warring States/Han dynasty, 4th-1st century BC are illustrated by B. Till, Treasures Unearthed: Chinese Archaeological Artefacts from Shang to Tang, Victoria, British Columbia, pp. 76-77, and a related bird finial with spreading wings is illustrated by James C. S. Lin, The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China, Cambridge, p. 300, no. 173B.

Bonhams. CHINESE PAINTINGS AND WORKS OF ART, 14 Sep 2015 10:00 EDT , NEW YORK