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35-62 is on the right
Tiger Plaque
35-62 is on the right
35-62 is on the right

Tiger Plaque

CultureChinese
Date6th-5th century B.C.E.
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 5 3/4 × 4 5/8 inches (14.61 × 11.75 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number35-62
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 232
Collections
DescriptionTiger trampling an ibex; body in relief and head in full round. Scythian style. Two flanges on back.Exhibition History

Animal Style in Nomadic Asia, Asia House Gallery, New York, January 14 - March 15, 1970; University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, April 2 - May 31, 1970.

Gallery Label
With its head turned to face the viewer and tail bent over its back, this tiger tramples a deer whose head and antlers are shown between the fore and hind legs. This animal combat theme was popular among the nomadic tribes who inhabited the Eurasian steppes and the northern borders of China during the first millennium B.C.E. A plaque such as this would have been attached to some portable item such as clothing, a tent or perhaps a horse harness.
Provenance

Purchased through Laurence Sickman by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1935.

Published References

Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art 1935-1936, 3rd ed., (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1935), no. 161, ill (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 176 (repro.).

Hugo Münsterberg, Der Ferne Osten (Baden-Baden: Holle, 1968), p. 44 (repro.).

Emma C. Bunker, C. Bruce Chatwin, and Ann R. Farkas, Animal style art from East to West,” exh. cat., (New York: Asia Society, 1970), no. 84 (repro.).

Hugo Munsterberg, Sculpture of the Orient (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), pl. 69 (repro.).

Michèle Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens, “Bronzes anciens d’extreme orient,”La Revue du Louvre et des musées de France, no. 1 (Paris: Conseil des museés nationaux, 1973), 53-54, fig. 2 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 280 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 294, pl. 36 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


35-61 is on the left
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