A rare archaic bronze 'figural' ornament, North China, 11th - 10th century BC

Collection of Pauline B. (1910-2000) and Myron S. (1906-1992) Falk, Jr., no. 542.

Christie's New York, 16th October 2001, lot 175.

J.J. Lally and Co., New York.

Traders on China's Northern Frontier, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., 1995, cat. no. 18.

Representations of human faces are rarely seen among archaic Chinese bronzes. A group of four similar ornaments was excavated from a 14th -13th century B.C. site at Liujiahe, Pinggu Xian, near Beijing and published in Wenwu, 1977, vol. 11, p. 6, fig. 15. Further face-shaped ornaments were uncovered in Laoniucun, outside Xi'an, also published in Wenwu, 1988, vol. 6, pp 13-14, figs 21.1 and 22. Jenny So notes that the related ornaments have small holes, indicating that they were sewn onto garments as adornments, and suggests that the present piece may also have been used as a luxurious accessory (for further detail, see Traders on China's Northern Frontier, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., 1995, cat. no. 18).