Page 32 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

203 A VERY RARE PARCEL-GILT SILVER BOX AND COVER

TANG DYNASTY
唐 銀局部鎏金猛獅噬鹿紋花式蓋盒
delicately fashioned in a six-lobed form, the domed cover finely decorated to the top in repoussé and parcel-gilt with a
ferocious lion grasping in its mouth and powerful foreclaws a fallen deer, the box similarly decorated to the underside with a
lion pouncing on a deer (2)
Diameter 2¼ in., 5.8 cm

$ 20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Frank Caro, successor to C.T. Loo, New York, 9th January 弗蘭克•卡羅（盧芹齋繼任人），紐約，1964年1月9日
1964. 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

The present box belongs to a small group of high quality Tang dynasty silver wares characterized by the decoration
of parcel-gilt animals in repoussé against a plain ground, a style which the can possibly be traced to the much earlier
Scythian culture from the Siberian region. See a parcel gilt-silver vase currently in the State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg, discovered in Kul’Oba, an ancient Scythian burial tomb near Kerch, northern Black Sea region, from the 4th
century B.C., similarly decorated around the exterior in repoussé and parcel-gilt with scenes of animal combat, including
lions preying on a deer and boar, exhibited in Scythians Warriors of Ancient Siberia, The British Museum, London, 2017,
cat. no. 208.

Although several Tang dynasty examples from this group are published, it is extremely rare to find a box of this
technique and design. Compare a dish in the same style, decorated in the center with a beast, excavated from a Tang
tomb in Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan. Jinyinyushijuan [Compendium
of Chinese Art. Gold, silver, jade and stone], Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 68; and two dishes, one decorated with a pair of foxes
and the other with a type of mythical beast called feilian, excavated from Hejia village, Xi’an, Shaanxi province, exhibited
in HuawudaTangchun. Hejiacun yibao jingcui (Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang hoard), Shaanxi History Museum,
Xi’an and School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, 2003, cat. nos 24 and 25 respectively, together
with a flask decorated with a horse, cat. no. 64; as well as two dishes, each decorated with a rhinoceros in the center,
formerly in the Carl Kempe Collection, and sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lots 59 and 60.

The subject of a lion preying on a deer is also very rare for silver repoussé wares. A parcel-gilt silver floriform dish,
decorated in a similar style to the center with a lion biting on the hind legs of a deer, attributed to the Tang dynasty, was
offered at Christie’s London, 10th June 1991, lot 45; another parcel-gilt silver box engraved to the top and bottom with
a single leonine beast surrounded by flowers and birds, from the Carl Kempe Collection, was sold in our London rooms,
14th May 2008, lot 81. For Tang dynasty silver boxes of the same form, see a parcel-gilt example similarly modeled with
six lobes, from the Tang dynasty, excavated from Tangyu in Lantian, Shaanxi province, published in ibid., Hong Kong,
1994, cat. no. 88.

本品蓋盒屬於一類少數唐代銀器珍品，其特徵為於器表鏨 《花舞大唐春：何家村遺寶精萃》，西安陝西歷史博物館
凸起動物紋飾，並局部鎏金，餘地留白，此風格或許源起 及北京大學考古文博院，2003年，編號24及25；同書並
於西伯利亞地區的斯基泰文化。參考一斯基泰文化銀局部 載一馬紋壺，編號64；再比兩盤例，盤心飾犀牛紋飾，曾
鎏金瓶，現藏聖彼得堡埃爾米塔日博物館，出土於黑海北 屬Carl Kempe收藏，售於倫敦蘇富比2008年5月14日，
部刻赤附近的斯基泰古墓Kul’Oba，斷代公元前四世紀， 編號59及60。
瓶身環鏨凸起動物獵食紋樣，並作局部鎏金，其中即見
相類猛獅噬鹿及野豬紋飾，展於《Scythians Warriors of 猛獅噬鹿紋飾，極鮮見於此類器。比較一銀局部鎏金花式
Ancient Siberia》，大英博物館，倫敦，2017年，編號208。 盤例，盤心獅噬鹿紋飾與本品相近，斷代唐，售於倫敦佳
士得1991年6月10日，編號45；另比一銀局部鎏金盒例，
雖與本品相類風格銀器目前已知數例可供參考，然蓋盒例 盒面及盒底刻獅紋及花鳥紋，出自Carl Kempe收藏，售
極其罕見。參考一盤例，風格相同，盤心飾靈獸，內蒙古 於倫敦蘇富比2008年5月14日，編號81。盒形相同之唐代
敖漢旗唐代古墓出土，圖載於《中國文物精華大全：金銀 銀盒作例，比較一件局部鎏銀六瓣花形盒例，斷代唐，陝
玉石卷》，香港，1994年，圖版68；另比兩盤，其一飾 西藍田湯峪出土，同前述出處，香港，1994年，編號88。
一對靈狐，其二飾飛廉，陝西西安何家村出土，曾展於