Many luxurious brands are closely connected with horses. Like Hermès, Gucci, and Dunhill, they first started their brands with the production of high-quality horse harnesses. Bridles, horsewhips, spurs–both ancient and mordern, there is much knowledge behind the works. Christie's New York is going to present a very rare and important bronze horse harness frontlet with a exceptionally-long history of 6th Century BC in its special sale forthcoming.

Scholars believe that the bronze frontlet is a fitting for horse harnesses, and frontlets as such are seen as early as the late Shang and Western Zhou periods. They were meant to be fearful for frightening enemies and fierce animals off. This particular frontlet presents an abstract animal face with big eyes and a pair of horns in deep curving grooves. The animal looks mysterious yet powerful.

All of the lots in the sale comes from Erwin Harris, an American collector of Chinese artworks and a scholar. He had served at the United States Army during the World War II, and also on the International Council of Museums' Committee for the Conservation of Works of Art, as well as the board of the Miami Art Centre.

Sale Details

Auction House: Christie's New York
Sale: The Harris Collection: Important Early Chinese Art
Sale No.: 12176
Lot No.: 87
Viewing:
2017/3/10-15  10am-5pm
2017/3/12  1pm-5pm
Sale Time: 2017/3/16  2pm

Top Lots

A VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT BRONZE HORSE HARNESS FRONTLET, NORTHWEST CHINA, 6TH CENTURY BC

Lot No.: 818
Size: 21cm
Estimation: US$150,000-250,000

A VERY RARE GILT-BRONZE FELINE-FORM ORNAMENT, NORTH CHINA, 1ST-2ND CENTURY AD

Lot No.: 847
Size: 10.5cm
Estimation: US$15,000-25,000

TWO GILT-BRONZE RECTANGULAR BELT PLAQUES, NORTH CHINA, 3RD-2ND CENTURY BC

Lot No.: 857
Size: 12cm/ 11.8cm
Estimation: US$10,000-15,000