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AN ARCHAIC BRONZE HALBERD WITH LEOPARD DECORATION, ZHUO Late Warring States/early Western Han Dynasty, Dian Culture, Yunnan province (fitted metal stand) image 1
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE HALBERD WITH LEOPARD DECORATION, ZHUO Late Warring States/early Western Han Dynasty, Dian Culture, Yunnan province (fitted metal stand) image 2
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE HALBERD WITH LEOPARD DECORATION, ZHUO Late Warring States/early Western Han Dynasty, Dian Culture, Yunnan province (fitted metal stand) image 3
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF PENG BO ZHAI
Lot 8

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE HALBERD WITH LEOPARD DECORATION, ZHUO
Late Warring States/early Western Han Dynasty, Dian Culture, Yunnan province

15 September 2025, 09:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$17,920 inc. premium

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AN ARCHAIC BRONZE HALBERD WITH LEOPARD DECORATION, ZHUO

Late Warring States/early Western Han Dynasty, Dian Culture, Yunnan province
Finely cast with a leopard in crouching pose holding a small game in its mouth, incised with 'teardrop' patterns to indicate the spotted hide, the hollow shaft decorated with sections of abstract motifs and geometric lines extending to the center of the long ceremonial blade, the metal with green and brown patination throughout.
8 5/8in (21.9cm) high
(fitted metal stand).

Footnotes

戰國末/西漢初 雲南滇文化 青銅豹銜鼠管銎啄

Provenance:
San Francisco Private Collection, 2008

來源:
舊金山私人收藏,2008 年

The narrow, elongated axe with leopard-decorated hafting section represents a distinguished Yunnan bronze form that does not appear in the central plain. The intricately modeled leopard was made possible by lost-wax casting method. The subject of 'animals in combat' links ancient Yunnan to the northern steppes.

A very similar bronze halberd decorated with a crouching leopard unearthed from M3:86 in Mount Shizhai, Jinning, Yunnan province, is illustrated by Rawson et al, The Chinese Bronzes of Yunnan, London, 1983, nos. 134 and 135; the Jinning halberd was also illustrated in The Compendium of Chinese Bronzes, Vol. 14, Dian, Kunming, Beijing, 1993, p. 87, no. 98.

A closely related Yunnan bronze zhuo decorated with two oxen was sold at Bonhams New York, 16 September 2024, lot 91.

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