A RARE PAIR OF BRONZE RAM'S-HEAD LINCH PINS WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 9TH-6TH CENTURY BC

each of the flat rectangular pins pierced with an aperture and surmounted by a ram's head with small rounded upright ears, divided by a small animal head with curled horns and beady eyes joined to a double segmented snake-like body bifurcating on the ram's forehead and curved around to meet at its tips above the muzzle, forming the ram's horns, the metal patinated to a dark grey tone with mottled malachite encrustation, wood stands 

Found in Xun county, southeast of Anyang, Henan province (by repute).
Collection of Sir Neil Malcolm, K.C.B., D.S.O.
Collection of Dugald Malcolm.
Sotheby's London, 29th March 1977, lot 12.
British Rail Pension Fund.
Sotheby's London, 12th December 1989, lot 9.

 

International Exhibition of Chinese Art, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat. no. 189 (one only).
Oriental Ceramic Society, The Animal in Chinese Art, London, 1968, cat. no. 251.

William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 79b (one only).
William Watson, Style in the Arts of China, Baltimore, 1974, pl. 26 (one only).

Both pins are in very good overall condition with the exception of a slight bend to the top of one shaft; two pinhead-sized casting holes to the underside of one head and one hole to the underside of the other; and light overall malachite encrustation characteristic with burial to both.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present pair of bronze finials is a rare example of finials of this form. No other linch-pins with curled horns of this type, springing from a second animal head, appear to be recorded.  Linch-pins with similar animal heads lacking these details are illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 93, where they are compared (p. 206) to the present pair; and a finial with small upward-curled horns, in the Eumorfopoulos collection, is published in Percival W. Yetts, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue, vol.1, London, 1929, pl. LXIV, no. A116, with another no. A117.

Compare also two animal mask finials, differing in their features and horns, illustrated in Umehara Sueji, Shina-kodo seikwa, part III, vol. 1, Osaka, 1933, pl. 26, from the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., and from C.T. Loo, respectively; and another included in the exhibition Arts of the Zhou Dynasty, Stanford University Museum, Palo Alto, 1958, cat. no. 16, from the van Heusden and Richard C. Bull collections, also illustrated on the catalogue cover.

A finial of somewhat simpler form, from the Musee Cernuschi, Paris, was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 45; and another was sold in these rooms, 14th November 2001, lot 11.