704 - A rare Chinese rock crystal of a lion and gilt-bronze stand

A rare Chinese rock crystal of a lion and gilt-bronze stand Liao dynasty Carved in the form of a crouching lion, its forelegs upright and hind legs tucked beneath the body, seated on a hemispherical base carved with lotus petals, the mouth slightly open to reveal the teeth, the broad nose set between slightly protruding eyes, the neck and back adorned with gently curling mane, and the tail raised and resting against the back, the underside carved with a cylindrical peg for insertion into a gilt-bronze base cast with lotus-leaf motifs, the lion 13cm high, approx. 442g, with base 14.5 cm high, the base approx. 107g, with silk box.(Import Duty Charged on the Hammer Price)落槌價徵收進口關稅 Provenance: Sotheby's London, 12 June 2003, lot 55. 遼 水晶雕獅子像連銅鎏金座 來源：倫敦蘇富比，2003年6月12日，拍品55號。 Cf. a similar gilt-wood seated lion, dated to the fourth year of the Huitong period of the Liao dynasty (941), excavated in 1992 from the tomb of Yelü Yu at Hansumusumu, Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, and illustrated in The Khitan Dynasty, published by the Chinese History Museum and the Department of Culture of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China Tibetology Publishing House. 參閲：一件造型及結構相似斷代為遼會同四年（公元941年）的鎏金木雕坐獅，于1992年阿魯科爾沁旗罕蘇木蘇木遼耶律羽之墓出土。收錄於中國歷史博物館内蒙古自治區文化廳編輯，中國藏學出版社出版的《契丹王朝》一書中。