Page 90 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

umptuously decorated, the present stem cup exemplifies the luxuriant use of gilt-bronze
and silver tableware during the Tang dynasty. The form finds its origins in Sassanian and
SByzantine drinking goblets and chalices, which entered the repertoire of Chinese artisans
during the Tang dynasty, who produced the form in both silver and gilt-bronze. The shape would later
appear in stoneware and, eventually, porcelain. Compare a Sassanian beaten silver stem cup illustrated
in Margaret Medley, Metalwork and Chinese Ceramics, London, 1972, pl. 5a, and a Byzantine silver-gilt
example in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc. no. 1986.3.3. A drawing of
a fragment of a Sassanian silver-gilt stem cup, missing its stem, with a petal band below a bird design is
illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities Bulletin, no.
29, Stockholm, 1957, fig. 25n.

A small number of Tang dynasty gilt-bronze cups of this petal form and bird design are known, including
one included illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm,
1953, pl. 108, later sold in our London rooms, 5th November 2008, lot 413; another, formerly in the
collection of Hon. Senator Hugh Scott, extensively exhibited, including in the International Exhibition of
Chinese Art, Royal Academy, London, 1935, cat. no. 766, subsequently sold in these rooms, 4th June
1985, lot 34, now in the Uldry Collection and illustrated in Pierre Uldry, Chinesisches Gold und Silber. Die
Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1994, pl. 135. A third example of this type, acquired from Mathias Komor
in 1958, was offered at Christie’s New York, 30th November 1983, lot 323. A similar silver-gilt example,
raised on a shorter foot, in the Art Institute of Chicago, was included in the exhibition Masterpieces of
Chinese Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1989, cat. no. 25.

A related group of silver and gilt-bronze stem cups raised on a splayed petal-shaped foot are also
known. Compare silver-gilt examples including one excavated in Xi’an in 1982, illustrated in A Selection
of the Treasure of Archaeological Finds of the People’s Republic of China, 1976-1984, Beijing, 1987, pl.
310; two in the Hakutsuru Museum of Art, Kobe, illustrated in Hakutsuru Eika [Selected Masterpieces of
Hakutsuru Museum], Kobe, 1978, pls 32-33. Silver cups of this type have sold at auction, including one
in these rooms, 29th February 1972, lot 168; another formerly in the David David-Weill and Arthur M.
Sackler Collections, sold at Christie’s New York, 1st December 1994, lot 65; and two from the Carl Kempe
Collection, sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lots 40 and 71. A gilt-bronze example formerly in the
Cranbrook Academy of Art sold twice in these rooms, 5th May 1972, lot 444A, and 1st June 1977, lot 352.

本品高足盃，銅胎，外鎏金，內鑲銀，用料奢侈，裝 比1985年6月4日，編號34，現納入Uldry雅蓄，圖
飾繁麗，盡顯盛唐風華。本品器型源自西域，以薩珊 見Pierre Uldry，《Chinesisches Gold und Silber.
王朝及拜占庭帝國時之高腳盃為原型。有唐一朝，此 Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry》，蘇黎世，1994
器型始入中國，匠人以鎏金銅及銀製之。而後，亦 年，圖版135。其三為Mathias Komor於1958年購
運用於宋至明清之陶瓷器。比較一薩珊酒盃，銀胎 入，後售於紐約佳士得1983年11月30日，編號323。
捶製，圖見Margaret Medley，《Metalwork and 另比一相若銀鎏金盃例，足部略矮，藏於芝加哥藝術
Chinese Ceramics》，倫敦，1972年，圖版5a， 博物館，曾展於《シカゴ美術館中国美術名品展》，
另見一拜占庭時期銀鎏金高足盃例，現存紐約大都會 東洋陶磁美術館，大阪，1989年，編號25。
藝術博物館（館藏編號：1986.3.3）。此外，於Bo
Gyllensvärd文獻〈T’ang Gold and Silver〉中， 此類高足盃，亦見足為花式者。1982年西安出土一
見一高足盃局部線描圖，足部缺失，盃身上部鏨刻鳥 例，銀胎鎏金，錄於《中華人民共和國出土文物展
紋，其下以花帶為飾，錄於《The Museum of Far 覽》，北京，1987年，圖版310；神戶白鶴美術館
Eastern Antiquities Bulletin》，編號29，斯德哥 藏二例，載於《白鶴英華：白鶴美術館名品図録》
爾摩，1957年，圖25n。 ，神戶，1978年，圖版32-33。此類銀盃數次見諸
拍賣：其一售於紐約蘇富比1972年2月29日，編號
另存少量同類唐代盃例可資比較。其一收錄於Bo 168；其二原為大維•威爾及亞瑟•賽克勒收藏，
Gyllensvärd，《Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl 後售於紐約佳士得1994年12月1日，編號65；第
Kempe Collection》，斯德哥爾摩，1953年，圖版 三、四例，均屬Carl Kempe典藏，售於倫敦蘇富比
108，售於倫敦蘇富比2008年11月5日，編號413； 2008年5月14日，編號40及71。此外，克蘭布魯克
其二原屬於Hon. Senator Hugh Scott舊藏，數經 藝術館舊藏一鎏金銅高足盃例，兩度售於紐約蘇富
展出，曾借展於《中國藝術國際展覽會》，皇家藝術 比，分別為1972年5月5日，編號444A以及1977年6
學院，倫敦，1935年，編號766，後售於紐約蘇富 月1日，編號352。

88 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II