JOHN DU

A gilt-bronze ‘dragon head’ handle, Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Gilt bronze with traces of red pigment.

This remarkable handle was formerly in the treasured possession of Belgian engineer and financier Baron Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949) and his wife, Suzanne (1874-1960), housed in their Art Nouveau masterpiece, Palais Stoclet, in Brussels. Designed by Joseph Hoffmann (1850-1956), one of the era's leading artists, the home was a Gesamtkunstwerk (‘total work of art’) of sorts and housed the Stoclets' extensive and wide-ranging collection, which also included murals painted by Gustav Klimt. Two other celebrated bronze animals from this period were also once preserved in the Stoclets’ collection and speak to their aesthetic vision and unmatched eye: the first, a widely published Han dynasty fitting in the form of a bixie (chimera), most recently sold from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th October 2022, lot 1; and the second – perhaps the most famous piece in the entire collection – a large bronze winged dragon figure, now one of the highlights in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, similarly included in the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition of 1935-6, cat. no. 489.

A small gilt-bronze figure of a dvarapala, Tang dynasty (618-907).

Bonifacio Bembo

Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards

Italy, Milan, ca. 1450–1480

“No dream is ever just a dream.”

Winter Birds. The Snow Book. 1978.