Poignée
Bronze, Doré = dorure, Ajouré
Vaisselle et ustensile de cuisine
L. 21.2 x l. 7.4 cm
M.C. 2000-7.A
Achat
These handles feature a rampant feline with a sinuous and muscular body, as frequently found in numerous works from the Han period. Their shape brings to mind the vessels with side handles (erbei or yueshang) that are characteristic of the period. On each of the two pieces, the curved inner element has a double wall into which the bowl itself, probably made of lacquered wood, would have been set.
Although of similar dimensions, slight differences in the cut and moulding suggest that the handles come from the same service but not from the same piece. Tombs in the Warring States period (481-221 BC) and Western Han era, particularly in the south, contained coherent ensembles of vessels, sometimes placed together in the same box. While Han-period handle plaques often featured rings or silver incrustations, such elaborate gilded bronze handles must have made the bowl to which these two were attached an exceptional piece.
Gilles Béguin, Arts de l'Asie au musée Cernuschi, Paris, Paris-Musées/ Findakly, 2000, p. 70-71, 204.
Art chinois, Musée Cernuschi, acquisitions 1993-2004, Paris Musées/Editions Findakly, 2005, p. 63-64.