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Lot 12

A RARE PARCEL-GILT BRONZE 'MYTHICAL BEAST' WATER DROPPER
Ming Dynasty

14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £7,040 inc. premium

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A RARE PARCEL-GILT BRONZE 'MYTHICAL BEAST' WATER DROPPER

Ming Dynasty
Crisply cast as a recumbent mythical beast with its head slightly raised, detailed with a ruyi-shape snout and prominent brow, the body with flame scrolls and scales, terminating with a curled bifurcated tail, two apertures located at the centre of its back and within its mouth, the surface with a rich chocolate-brown tone with details picked out in gilt.
10.8cm (4 1/4in) long.

Footnotes

明 銅局部鎏金瑞獸水盂

Provenance: Hartman Rare Art, Inc., New York
Sotheby's New York, 5 June 1985, lot 75

來源: Hartman Rare Art, Inc.,紐約
紐約佳士得,1985年6月5日,拍品編號75

A bixie (辟邪), meaning 'warding off evil', is a mythical winged beast in Chinese culture believed to have protective and auspicious qualities. Often depicted with a lion-like body, dragon-like features, these creatures were commonly sculpted in stone and placed at tomb entrances from the Han dynasty onwards, serving as tomb guardians to protect the deceased and ensure a peaceful afterlife. In later traditions, jade or bronze bixie figurines and water droppers were also used as talismans to safeguard homes and individuals. A related mythical beast waterpot is illustrated in Scholar's Desk Materials from the Libraries of the Daimyo: Treasures from the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, p.160, no.123. See also a related jade water dropper of similar form, Ming dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Scholar's Paraphernalia: Classics of the Forbidden City, Beijing, 2009, p.234, no.253.

See a related bronze bixie waterpot, Ming dynasty, which was sold at Bonhams London, 17 May 2018, lot 212. See also a related gilt-bronze 'tortoise' water dropper, Song-Ming dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's London, 9 November 2024, lot 61.

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