Peering out with grandeur and might, this intricately cast dragon’s head is a rare and spectacular example of Han dynasty metal work of unparalleled provenance. With each scale, whisker, tooth and horn delicately rendered with life-like precision and accentuated with liberal gilding, the present head is as much a piece of art as it is a symbol – a lasting homage to the mastery of an unknown ancient craftsman and the power of his mighty patron.

Since the earliest recorded sources, dragons have played a crucial role in Chinese cosmology. Seen as harbingers of good tidings, life-giving rains and benevolent rulers, the piercing eyes, cloudlike mane and fierce jaws of the dragon have long been associated with power and majesty. Though the present head is rightly considered a work of art in its own right, the piece was likely once produced as a handle to a larger organic vessel, long since degraded in antiquity. Fitting snugly in the hand, this elegant fitting is remarkably ergonomic and invites the viewer to hold it; capturing one’s senses with its regal appearance and tactile exterior.

Fewer than ten dragon handles of this rare type and period appear to be known, produced in a variety of related designs and preserved in important collections across the world: one excavated from a Han dynasty tomb no. 2 at Ganquan in Hanjiang, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1981, no. 11, p. 6, fig. 15 and pl. 2:5; a second from the Eastern Han tomb of Xianyu Huang (dated to 165 CE) in Wuqing county, Hebei province, illustrated in Kaogu Xuebao, 1982, no. 3, pl. 19:2; a third, excavated from a brick factory in Xipang village, Koutian township, Yanshi, preserved in the Luoyang Museum, illustrated on the Museum’s website; a fourth from the collection of Charlotte C. and John C. Weber, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 1992.165.25) (Fig. 1); a fifth from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, now in the British Museum, London (accession no. 2022,3034.27); a sixth, in the Sakamoto Collection at the Nara National Museum (accession. no. 1317-377); a seventh, included in Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 117, and later sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 2010, lot 917; an eighth from the H. K. Burnet Collection, sold in our London rooms, 4th April 1941, lot 382 and more recently at Woolley & Wallis, 24th May 2023, lot 418; and a ninth from the Worch Collection, illustrated alongside the present, in Umehara Sueji, Shina kodo Seikwa / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America, Osaka, 1933, pt. III, vol. I, pl. 64a.

This remarkable handle was formerly in the treasured possession of Belgian engineer and financier Baron Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949) and his wife, Suzanne (1874-1960), housed in their Art Nouveau masterpiece, Palais Stoclet, in Brussels. Designed by Joseph Hoffmann (1850-1956), one of the era's leading artists, the home was a Gesamtkunstwerk (‘total work of art’) of sorts and housed the Stoclets' extensive and wide-ranging collection, which also included murals painted by Gustav Klimt. Two other celebrated bronze animals from this period were also once preserved in the Stoclets’ collection and speak to their aesthetic vision and unmatched eye: the first, a widely published Han dynasty fitting in the form of a bixie (chimera), most recently sold from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th October 2022, lot 1; and the second – perhaps the most famous piece in the entire collection – a large bronze winged dragon figure, now one of the highlights in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, similarly included in the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition of 1935-6, cat. no. 489.

本品鑄工精巧，銅鎏金龍首氣勢凜然，實乃漢代金器珍罕佳例，來源顯赫，稀有難得。龍首細鑄精雕，鱗，鬚，牙，角纖毫畢現，並飾以鎏金，誠為藝術珍品，展現古時藝匠臻藝，亦顯物主權位非凡。

自有文獻記載以來，龍在中國神話中一直占據崇高地位，形像極具威嚴，乃祥瑞之兆，掌生靈雨露，象徵仁德君主。

此龍首精工巧製，乃藝術珍品，原應為容器之耳，容器或為有機材質製，因年代久遠而風化消逝。銅器小巧精緻，表面質感豐富，配合龍首威嚴形像，倍顯尊貴。

此類龍首耳存世不足十例，形制相近，現存於世界各地重要收藏。可資比較者有江蘇省邗江甘泉二號漢墓出土一例，載於《文物》1981年第11期，頁6，圖15及圖版2:5；另一例出土自河北省武清縣東漢鮮於璜墓（公元165年）出土一例，載於《考古學報》1982年第3期，圖版19:2； 例三出土自河南偃師寇店鄉西龐村磚廠，現藏洛陽博物館，圖見博物館網站；紐約大都會博物館亦收藏一例，原屬Charlotte C. and John C. Weber收藏（館藏編號1992.165.25）(圖一)；倫敦大英博物館收藏一例，出自何鴻卿爵士收藏（館藏編號2022,3034.27）；再比一例，坂本五郎珍藏，現存於奈良國立博物館（館藏編號1317-377）； 香港藝術館《青銅聚英：中國古代與鄂爾多斯青銅器》曾展一例，香港，1990年，編號117號，後售於紐約佳士得2010年9月16日拍賣，編號 917；尚有一例，H.K. Burnet舊藏，1941年4月4日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號 382，近期易手於威立士拍賣行2023年5月24日，編號418；另一例出自Worch收藏，圖載梅原末治，《歐美蒐儲支那古銅精華》，大阪，1933年，第三冊，卷 I，圖版 64a。

此龍首耳曾屬比利時工程師暨金融家Adolphe Stoclet男爵（1871-1949年）及其夫人Suzanne Stoclet（1874-1960年）收藏，存於布魯塞爾斯托克雷宮，後者以新藝術風格建築傑作，由時代名家約瑟夫·霍夫曼（1850-1956年）設計，乃「整體藝術品」（Gesamtkunstwerk）典範，Stoclet伉儷廣博精湛之藝術收藏包括克林姆特所繪壁畫，即珍藏於此。Stoclet並收藏兩件珍貴漢代銅獸形器，展現其藝術品味與獨到眼光：其一為漢代辟邪飾件，文獻記載甚廣，售於香港蘇富比2022年10月10日，拍品1，原屬何鴻卿爵士珍藏；其二為青銅龍，乃Stoclet收藏最負盛名珍品之一，現為阿布扎比羅浮宮鎮舘重器，曾展於1935-1936年倫敦皇家藝術學院展覽會，編號489。