A RARE SILVER-INLAID BRONZE BELT HOOK WARRING STATES PERIOD - HAN DYNASTY |

well cast with an animal head-form hook gently curving to an arched body, finely inlaid to the top with a geometric pattern of scrolls and dots, the underside with a circular button decorated with a whirl motif

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

The head of the belt hook has been re-glued. The silver inlay with minor expected losses, and with minor nicks to extremities. Overall with expected surface wear.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Compare several larger silver-inlaid bronze belt hooks of a similar form, including two decorated with different geometric patterns, from the late Warring States period to early Han dynasty, formerly in the Sakamoto Collection, published in Hayashi Minao and Higuchi Takayasu, Fugendō Sakamoto Gorō Chūgoku seidōki seishō [Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Sakamoto Collection], Tokyo, 2002, pl. 309; one in the collection of Crown Prince of Sweden Gustaf Adolf, published in Nils Palmgren, Selected Chinese Antiquities from the Collection of Gustaf Adolf, Stockholm, 1948, pl. 29, fig. 6, together with a smaller example, inlaid to the button with a character reading ji (auspicious), pl. 28, fig. 4; one of a slightly smaller size, exhibited in Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 134; and a larger silver belt hook cast with a geometric design of swirls, formerly in the collection of Carl Kempe, illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 78, and later sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 24.