Lot 254. A gold and silver-inlaid bronze chariot fitting , Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). Length 7 1/8  in., 18.2 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of cylindrical form divided into two sections by a slightly bulged mid-section centered by a raised ring, each section finely decorated in gold and silver with an abstract pattern of hooks and scrolls, the surface with malachite encrustation.

Provenance: Walter Hoschstadter, New York, by 1948.
Fritz Low-Beer, New York, 8th February 1951.
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: Excavation discoveries have shown that cylindrical fittings of this type were used to connect the wood support of the parasol on a chariot. Two fittings of this form were found on the remnants of a chariot carriage from the Han tomb in Mancheng Hebei province, each with two sections of wood inserted from either end, published in Institute of Archaeology, CASS, ed., Mancheng Hanmu fajue baogao [Archaeological report of the Han tombs in Mancheng], vol. 1, Beijing, 1980, p. 323, fig. 219-7 (line drawing). See also a line drawing of a reconstructed chariot illustrating where these type of fittings were positioned, published in the exhibition catalogue Splendeurs des Han : Essor de l'empire céleste, Museé Guimet, Paris, 2014, p. 89.