Page 298 - Bonhams May 12 16 London

This outstanding cup encapsulates an array of highly symbolic
associations. The lotus, an emblem of fertility because of the multitude
of its petals and seeds, combined with children, reinforces the wish
for male progeny. This auspicious connotation was known in China
since at least the Tang dynasty, when children and lotus appeared on
images purchased by women desiring sons on the day of the Double
Seventh Festival that celebrated the love encounter between the
Weaving Maid and the Cowherd. Children emerging from lotus calyxes
also symbolised the heavenly rebirth in a Buddhist realm, according
to scriptures dating from the fourth century AD, but also the mindless
state of spontaneous actions advocated by Daoists as necessary
means to attain immortality. Furthermore, the archaistic base, clearly
inspired by the bronze wine vessel hu, employed in ancient times
to present offerings to the ancestors, underscores the importance
attributed to antiquity and Confucian state ideologies as inspirational
keys for a harmonious society. For references, see E.Johnston,
Auspicious Images of Children in China, in Orientations, no.27,
pp.47-52.

The very unusual form, combining naturalistic depictions of children
and lotus with an archaistic bronze base appears to have only been
employed on rhinoceros horn carvings and very few examples have
been published. A related example combining a cup carved with
branches of mallow and chrysanthemum emerging from the base
of an archaistic hu is illustrated by J.Rawson, The Bristish Museum
Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, p.183, pl.134. Another example
in is illustrated by J.Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving
in China, London, 1999, p.159, no.194 and further cup is illustrated
by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving, Hong Kong,
1999, p.169, no.119.