Page 112 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

227 A SUPERB AND RARE SILVERED-METAL ‘MANDARIN DUCKS’ BOWL
TANG DYNASTY
唐 金屬鎏銀鏨荷蓮鴛鴦紋臥足盌

the shallow rounded sides rising from a flat base to a flared rim, the exterior meticulously decorated with a finely chased and
engraved design of four pairs of mandarin ducks, divided by leafy lotus sprays issuing from a ring of connected ruyi heads,
enclosing a formalized quatrilobed flower head centering the base, all against a very fine circle-punched ground

Diameter 4⅛ in., 10.3 cm
$ 50,000-70,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

This exquisitely fashioned bowl is among the finest examples of metalwork made by Chinese artisans during the
Tang dynasty. Bowls of this particular form and design appear to be very rare. Compare a related gilt-silver bowl
of the same shape and size, but decorated with a pair of parrots and mandarin ducks, excavated in Hejia village,
Henan province, currently in the Shaanxi History Museum, exhibited in Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang Hoard,
Shaanxi History Museum, Shaanxi, 2003, cat. no. 69.

A related silver bowl of a larger size, decorated with various animals from the Carl Kempe Collection, was included in
the exhibition Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat. no.
45, and later sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 44. See also a gilt-silver bowl of a related shape with a flat
base and a flared rim, but decorated around the side with lotus petals and to the interior with a pair of lions, exhibited
in Cultural Relics Unearthed during the Period of the Great Cultural Revolution, vol. 1, Beijing, 1973, p. 55; and another
slightly larger silver bowl, decorated with mythical beasts and birds, sold in these rooms, 4th December 1984, lot 69.

本盌造工精緻，紋飾細膩，實乃唐代藝匠製作金屬器之臻 另比一例，尺寸稍大，飾各式動物紋飾，出自Carl Kempe
例。器型及紋飾相近之例極為罕見，比較一銀鎏金盌，器 收藏，曾展於《Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The
型及尺寸相同，唯飾鸚鵡鴛鴦紋，河南何家村出土，曾展 Kempe Collection》，華美協進會，紐約，1971年，編號
於《花舞大唐春：何家村遺寶精粹》，陝西歷史博物館， 45，後售於倫敦蘇富比2008年5月14日，編號44。亦可
陝西，2003年，編號69。 比較一例，銀鎏金盌，平底，口沿外撇，側面飾蓮紋，盌
心飾一對瑞獅，曾展於《文化大革命期間出土文物》，卷1
，北京，1973年，頁55；再比一例，尺寸稍大，飾靈獸及
鳥紋，售於紐約蘇富比1984年12月4日，編號69。

110 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II