A gilt-bronze 'lion' paperweight, Ming dynasty | 明 銅鎏金獅形紙鎮 《宣德年製》款

Colette Chan's Asian Art.

味餘書室

This finely cast gilt-bronze figure of a crouching lion is one of a small number of high quality Ming dynasty paperweights with Xuande reign marks, the current example intricately incised with four characters in kaishu. It is heavily cast and intricately modelled with varying layers of relief delineating the animal in full naturalistic detail and richly gilded. For another Xuande reign-marked example from the Xiaogushan Guan studio collection, see Rochers de lettrés, Itinéraires de l'Art en Chine, Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris, 2012, cat. no. 58.

Paperweights in the form of animal figures have their origin in mat weights from antiquity. For a pair of Western Han silver-inlaid bronze weights in the form of tigers, preserved in the Miho Museum in Japan, see Ancient Art from the Shumei Family Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, cat. no. 65. For another early Ming dynasty bronze 'lion' paperweight, partially gilt and inlaid with semi-precious, preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum (acession no. M.741-1910), see Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p. 88, pl. 72. The V&A example shares several features with the current lot, notably similar modelling in the round, detailed layering of the flaming mane, knobbed spine and proud, alert facial features. See also a Yuan / early Ming dynasty gilt-bronze and hardstone-inlaid paperweight in the form of two young chilong depicted in confrontation, sold in these rooms, 31st October 2004, lot 14, which is closely related to the current piece in terms of the bold and naturalistic articulation of the muscular body and fur, through varying layers of relief, and in the richness of the gilding. For a Ming dynasty jade paperweight, worked in the form of an imaginary beast with similar delineation of the mane and muscular body as the current piece, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 26:17.