Chinese Glass Snuff Bottle with Figural Scene and Seal Base, Signed Zhou Leyuan

The carinated body with decorative impressed fluting to the lower half. 1 kg, 17 cm high



Ex Cotswold, UK, collection, 1970-1990.

Of Eastern Zhou style helmet from a statue(?), domed with raised panels to the brim and vertical crest, hollow-formed spike above; the face-opening with shallow peak to the upper edge. 3.07 kg, 36 cm high



Acquired in the 1990s. From a UK collection.

The earliest bronze helmets in China date back to the Shang Dynasty, covered the neck and ears, and were often decorated with taotie masks and animal faces to make the warrior appear fearsome. Chou (Zhou) bronze helmets were similar to the Shang types but less elaborately decorated, and it is thought that the hood-shaped styles of the later Han Dynasty were metal copies of older leather versions.

Modelled with semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing, standing on a rectangular base, extensive remains of painted pigmentation, the horse with a cropped mane, painted bridle, harness and decorative saddlecloth, prey animal slung behind saddle, rider in the saddle leaning forwards with one arm raised, hand in a gripping position forming a socket to accept a weapon or other object. 3.8 kg, 40 cm

Fine condition.

Acquired 1990s. West Country, UK, collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11364-193072.

The Lari Festival was a Chinese celebration observed during the Tang era, intended to offer sacrifice to various gods at the end of the year. In the Tang Dynasty, it was a custom to hunt on this day, which was not only meant to meet the demand for sacrifice, but also to emphasise warrior culture, with his love of the hunt. In the poem titled Hunting On Lari Festival, Yao He in the mid and late periods of the Tang Dynasty also mentioned one of his collective hunting events to meet the demand for sacrifice on that festival when he was governor of Jin Zhou. Emperor Xianzong was very much astounded at such slaughters of foxes and hares and observed, "Every Lari Festival recent years, I heard some prefectures and counties, to take something to the capital, catch and raise foxes and hares to serve as tributes” (Complete Tang Proses,Vol. 60); therefore he issued the Fox & Hare Hunting Forbidding Decree.