Page 70 - Bonhams Chinese Paintings and Works of Art Sept 15, 2015

8073¤
A RARE REPOUSSÉ AND PARCEL-GILT SILVER BOWL
Tang dynasty, early 8th century
Finely worked in repoussé with fourteen raised lobed petals on the
exterior inlaid in gilt with delicate symmetrical foliate scrolls, the
register above gilt with various animals including deer, rabbit, geese
and birds in flight amongst grasses and trees and all against a finely
stippled ground, the circular raised foot decorated with downwards
pointing flowers, the interior with six further animals gamboling around
a central bird and the underside with a medallion enclosing flower
heads on a scrolling stem.
5 7/8in (14.7cm) diam.
$30,000 - 50,000

唐八世紀早期 銀局部鎏金浮雕纏枝蓮紋盌

Provenance
Christies, Los Angeles, Treasures of the Tang, sale 8970, 4 December
1998, lot 74
Carl Kempe Collection, Sweden

8073 (underside) Exhibited
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain,
1971, no.46

Literature
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain: The Kempe
Collection, Asia Society, New York, 1971, p. 52, no. 46

The present lot is an exquisite example of Tang metalwork: the once-
glittering gold and silver proclaim wealth and status, but any brashness
is chastened by the sophisticated delicacy of the construction and
detailing. The theme of wild animals within a Persian-inspired landscape
setting, full of variety and innovation, reflects the broad array of
influences welcomed into Tang cities along the Silk Road.

Bowl, Tang dynasty (618-907). Silver with parcel gilding. Diam. 5 3/8 in. (13.7 Repoussé and parcel-gilt bowls with interior chased decoration
cm). Jointly owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Arthur M. Sackler such as the present lot are extremely rare, and only a few other
Foundation, 1974. Accession Number: 1974.268.12 examples are known, including one in the Freer Gallery, Washington
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, U.S.A. D.C. no.F1931.8 and described as “one of the finest silver objects
Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art from the Tang dynasty now in the Freer collection.” Another bowl
Resource, NYv (13.7cm diameter) previously in the collection of Frederick M. Mayer
(1898–1974) is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
no.1974.268.12. A slightly larger example (18.1cm diameter) is
illustrated by G. Eskenazi, A Dealer’s Hand: The Chinese Art World
Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012, p. 207, pl. 82,
and another bowl is illustrated in the catalog to the Oriental Ceramic
Society exhibition The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, London, 1955, no.
342, listed as the property of Mrs Walter Sedgwick.

Other related examples are in the collection of the Asia Society in
New York and the Hakutsuru Museum in Kobe, Japan. Importantly,
the present lot can also be related to a gold petal-form bowl found in
the Hejiacun hoard near the Tang capital of Chang’an (modern Xi’an)
and illustrated in Tangdai Jinyiqi, Beijing, 1985, col. pl. 2. The Hejiacun
hoard contains over 270 pieces of gold and silver thought to have
been buried at the time of the An Lushan Rebellion in 755.

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