Page 108 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

MASTERPIECES OF EARLY CHINESE GOLD AND SILVER | 金紫銀青 - 中國早期金銀器粹珍

552

A RARE SILVER SPHERICAL CENSER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The globular censer is comprised of two hinged, openwork half-spheres,
the upper half decorated with a design of two pairs of parrots facing each
other as they pick at grapes in the midst of scrolling, leafy vines, the lower
half with scrolling, leafy vines bearing fowers and fruit. The interior is
ftted with a gimbaled system of two silver rings holding a gilt-bronze
hemispherical bowl that remains upright irrespective of the movement of
the outer sphere, and the censer is suspended on a hooked chain.
2 in. (5 cm.) diam.; weight 46 g
$100,000-150,000

PROVENANCE
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
no. CK97.
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 56.

EXHIBITED
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 97.
LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 97.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang Gold and Silver in
Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 292.
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 99.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver],
Beijing, 1999, pl. 92.
唐 銀鏤空鸚鵡紋香囊

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