Page 116 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

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A FINE SMALL PARCEL-GILT SILVER QUATREFOIL CUP
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The oblong cup is formed as four bracket-lobed petals, each fnely Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
engraved on the exterior with a pair of geese, each pair shown and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 97.
confronting each other on either side of a foliate motif, the two pairs Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver],
on the long sides shown standing and the two pairs at the ends Beijing, 1999, pl. 19.
shown in fight, all against a ring-punched ground, the details
highlighted in gilding. Cups of this oblong, quatrefoil shape appear to be rare. One raised on a
higher foot, in the Pierre Uldry Collection, is illustrated in Chinesisches
2º in. ( 5.7 cm.) wide; weight 27.5 g
Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, p. 152, pl. 138. A larger (11.7 cm. long)
$50,000-70,000 quadrilobed bowl with rounded sides, rather than barbed petal lobes,
decorated on the exterior with foliate scroll on a ring-punched ground,
but raised on a low, quadrilobed foot, in The Frederick M. Mayer
PROVENANCE Collection of Chinese Art, was sold at Christie’s London, 24-25 June
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, 1974, lot 167. A plain beaten silver quadrilobed bowl with straight, fared
no. CK95. sides, its lobes formed by indentations, in the collection of Mr. and Mrs.
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Raf Y. Mottahedeh, is illustrated by Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 53. & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971, p. 58, no. 78, where
it is dated Tang.
EXHIBITED
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Bowls of lobed oblong shape are more often found with eight lobes,
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-1955, cat. no. 95.
and of larger size, such as the example in the Asian Art Museum of San
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The
Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, illustrated by Clarence W.
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 43, an exhibition touring the United
Kelley, Tang Dynasty, Chinese Gold & Silver in American Collections, The
States and shown also at nine other museums.
Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, 1984, p. 65, no. 31. Another with eight
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, From Silver to Ceramic, the Potter’s Debt to
lobes (15.2 cm. long) is illustrated in Sui to no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal
Metal Work in the Graeco-Roman, Oriental and Islamic Worlds, 1986,
Art Museum, 1976, no. 2-16. The origins of these lobed, oval bowls
pl. 31 (bottom).
appear to be Sassanian, as evidenced by the parcel-gilt silver, lobed
elliptical bowl raised on a slightly fared, oval foot ring, dated 6th century,
LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, illustrated by Ann C. Gunter and Paul Jett, Ancient Iranian Metalwork in
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 95. the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington,
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far D.C., 1992, p. 182, pl. 31.
Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 11b, fg. 68c, fg. 69a.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, [Tang Gold and Silver in 唐 銀局部鎏金鏨刻雁穿花紋四曲小長盃
Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 82.

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