A PAIR OF LARGE LIMESTONE 'MYTHICAL BEAST' PILLAR SUPPORTS NORTHERN QI DYNASTY

the grey limestone with remains of a white layer and pinkish buff pigment, each carved in the form of a recumbent mythical beast with a ferocious mythical dragon head and the body of a turtle, each crouching on its front paws with wide open jaws revealing sharp fangs and a long protruding curling tongue, all below a cleft lip and raised snout with flared nostrils, surmounted by large bulging eyes framed by squared brows delineated with incised lines tapering towards the back of the head, the sides of the head set with a pair of small round ears flanking a pair of horns, the back part carved with a turtle shell decorated with concentric hexagonal diaper arching around the tail, all below a flat angular platform hollowed with a circular and a square aperture to support columns or door posts

Acquired between the 1950s.

Mizuno Seiichi, Chūgoku no chōkoku: Sekibutsu. Kondōbutsu/Bronze and Stone Sculpture of China: from the Yin to the T'ang Dynasty, Tokyo, 1960, p. 47, figs. 111-112. 

The supports are in unusually good condition for their type, and are outstanding examples. Clearly an original pair, there is no structural weaknesses will here the pillars were held. There are general losses and bruises to the edges and surface, as visible in the catalogue illustration. Unusually, the original designs are intact. And there are traces of original pigments.
"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."

Supports in the form of mythical beasts, as seen in the present finely carved pair, were often made to hold stelae or pillars. For comparable pillar supports see a column base in the form of two dragon-like creatures with intertwining tails illustrated in Ann Paludan, The Chinese Spirit Road, New Haven and London, 1991, p. 75, pls. 86-7; and another stele standing on a support in the shape of a mythical turtle, ibid., p.74, pl. 85, depicted in situ from the tomb of Liang Xiaoxiu (d. AD 518), now at the Ganjiaxiang Primary School in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

For later examples of animal-form architectural elements, see a pair of supports carved of sandstone depicting mythical fish offered in our New York rooms, 20th September, 2000, lot 58; and two pillar supports in the form of lion heads illustrated in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol. 1, New York, 1970, pl. 434 a and b, the former from the collection of Octave Homberg, Paris, and the latter from a New York private collection.