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• Auction House:
  Bonhams Australia
• Sale Name:
  Asian Art
• Sale Date:
  07 Dec 2022 ~ Session 1 (Lots 1 - 143) 2pm (AEDT)
  07 Dec 2022 ~ Session 2 (Lots 201 - 294) 6pm (AEDT)
• Lot #:
  111
• Lot Description:
  A bronze ibex-head knife, Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BCE to c. 1045 BCE)
  32.0cm long
• Provenance:
  Sir Neill Malcolm, KCB DSO (1869-1953), UK; Captain Dugald Malcolm, CMG CVO TD (1917-2000), UK (label); Sotheby's, London, 29 Mar 1977, lot 25; Works of art collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, Sotheby's, London, 12 Dec 1989, lot 5; Melbourne private collection
• Exhibited:
  Exhibited and Published: Musée Cernuschi, Paris, La Découverte de l'Asie, Hommage à René Grousset, 1954, Catalogue, no. 345
• References:
  W.P. Yetts, Notes on Some Chinese Bronzes, T.O.C.S., vol.19, 1942-43, pl. 21a, b, and discussed pages 53-55; Watson, Cultural Frontiers in Ancient East Asia, pl. 37a;
• Notes:
  The current lot belongs to a group of animal-head decorated curved knives used in the northern marches of the Shang power. They however also made their way into a few very important burial sites belonging to military leaders in Anyang. This suggests a contact possibly by force between the capital and its northern frontiers. Compare with a similar knife excavated from the famous Fuhao tomb, see Yinxu Fuhao Mu, Wenwu Chubanshe, Beijing, 1980, pl.LXVI. Also see an example in the British Museum, acc.no.1955,0519.1. The wide-ranging collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, was compiled between 1974 and 1980 as a hedge against the then-raging United Kingdom inflation rate, and sold in a series of blockbuster auctions including the sale of its important Chinese works of art in 1989 which included the current lot. In a 1996 article in the Wall Street Journal, Alexandra Peers observes that the results of the hedge are "a respectable, if not spectacular, 13.1% return per year". She continues to argue that it may have invested "too conservatively". With the benefit of hindsight, one might even challenge that it sold the Chinese works of art somewhat too early.
• Estimate:
  A$8,000 - 12,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Oriental

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.