Located in South Burlington, VT
China, Ancient Bronze “Money Tree” Yaoqian Shu with original pottery base, Han dynasty (25 BCE – 220 CE)
Dimensions: 155cm, 62 inches high
A sculpted terracotta pottery base in the form of a tortoise with attendants and inserted with five individual bronze pole segments with twenty four individual hanging bronze open work money “branches” attached in tiers, four per tier and topped with a figure of a bronze phoenix as apex most bearing varying degrees of malachite and azurite encrustation from ancient burial.
Important Description Details:
Pottery "tortoise" base: 14.5" high and 11" wide
Bronze sections:
7pcs pole bronze sections approximately 8" length each
1pc top "phoenix" bronze section approximately 7" high and 6" wide
20 pcs long bronze hanging wings approximately 10" long and 5" wide each
4 pcs short bronze hanging wings (near top) approximately 7" long and 4" wide each
Total 32 pcs with ancient green and blue azurite patina.
Catalog reference: Schneible Fine arts catalog - 35 Years Collecting Treasures- Number 11p. 28 (see photos)
Provenance: Provenance: Private family collection formerly exhibited “Asia Week” New York City, Fuller Building, Zabriskie Gallery, 2008.
History of money trees:
In the late Han Dynasty tombs...
Category
15th Century and Earlier Han Antique Chinese Furniture