Sold for €4,420
including Buyer's Premium
Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價
China, 5th-4th century BC. Finely carved in the form of a dragon in profile with neatly incised circular eyes, curling horns, and a prominent pierced snout, the beast arching its body forward and curling its tail in an S-shape. Each side of the body and tail is decorated with raised comma spirals and pierced with two apertures. The translucent stone of a deep green color with pale brown shadings, dark specks, and russet inclusions.
Provenance: Collection of Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) and thence by descent to his widow Irene Beasley. Collection of Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964), acquired from the above c. 1939 and thence by descent in the same family. Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) was a British anthropologist and museum curator who developed an important ethnographic collection during the early 20th century that is now held in various British museums. With his wife Irene, Beasley set up the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum which eventually held more than 6,000 objects of ethnographical interest. The Beasleys collected objects from across Europe, buying from auction houses and local museums to expand the collection, which contained material from the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Northwestern America. Beasley wrote numerous articles for anthropological journals and was considered an expert in his field. He died in 1939 and his collection was stored with the British Museum collections during the war, which was fortunate, as the Cranmore Museum was destroyed by bombing. After the war, substantial portions of the collection were passed to the British Museum, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Cambridge, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Merseyside County Museum. Other pieces, such as the present lot, were sold by his widow and, after her death in 1974, by their daughters. Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964) was a contributor to the Cranmore Museum and became good friends with Harry Beasley. Shortly after Harry Beasley’s death, he acquired several objects from Irene Beasley, including the present lot.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, signs of weathering and erosion, remnants of soil, encrustations, minor chips, minuscule nibbling to edges. The stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into hairline cracks.
Weight: 21.8 g (excl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 10.8 cm
Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價
China, 5th-4th century BC. Finely carved in the form of a dragon in profile with neatly incised circular eyes, curling horns, and a prominent pierced snout, the beast arching its body forward and curling its tail in an S-shape. Each side of the body and tail is decorated with raised comma spirals and pierced with two apertures. The translucent stone of a deep green color with pale brown shadings, dark specks, and russet inclusions.
Provenance: Collection of Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) and thence by descent to his widow Irene Beasley. Collection of Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964), acquired from the above c. 1939 and thence by descent in the same family. Harry Geoffrey Beasley (1881-1939) was a British anthropologist and museum curator who developed an important ethnographic collection during the early 20th century that is now held in various British museums. With his wife Irene, Beasley set up the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum which eventually held more than 6,000 objects of ethnographical interest. The Beasleys collected objects from across Europe, buying from auction houses and local museums to expand the collection, which contained material from the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Northwestern America. Beasley wrote numerous articles for anthropological journals and was considered an expert in his field. He died in 1939 and his collection was stored with the British Museum collections during the war, which was fortunate, as the Cranmore Museum was destroyed by bombing. After the war, substantial portions of the collection were passed to the British Museum, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Cambridge, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Merseyside County Museum. Other pieces, such as the present lot, were sold by his widow and, after her death in 1974, by their daughters. Alfred William Cowperthwaite (1890-1964) was a contributor to the Cranmore Museum and became good friends with Harry Beasley. Shortly after Harry Beasley’s death, he acquired several objects from Irene Beasley, including the present lot.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, signs of weathering and erosion, remnants of soil, encrustations, minor chips, minuscule nibbling to edges. The stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into hairline cracks.
Weight: 21.8 g (excl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 10.8 cm
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