Lot 860. A pair of gilt-bronze rectangular belt plaques, North China, 3rd-2nd century AD. Estimate: USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Each plaque is cast with two addorsed ungulates shown in a recumbent position facing the outer edge and with their back legs rotated up over their backs where they flank their tails which terminate in confronted roe heads, all within a double rope border. Each has two attachment loops on the reverse which bears a woven pattern indicating that the plaque was cast using the lost-wax/lost-textile process. 4 ¼ in. (11 cm.) wide

Provenance: Christie’s New York, 30 May 1991, lot 217.
The Erwin Harris Collection, Miami, Florida.

Literature: J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier, Washington D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1995, p. 145, no. 66.

Note: Similar plaques have been found at sites associated with the Xiongnu. A similar pair is illustrated by J. Rawson and E. C. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 346-47, no. 225.

Christie's. The Harris Collection: Important Early Chinese Art, 16 March 2017, New York, Rockefeller Center