Page 127 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

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A SMALL PARCEL-GILT SILVER ‘MYTHICAL BEAST’ CIRCULAR
BOX AND COVER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The box and cover are fnely engraved and parcel-gilt with a winged, The decoration on this box appears to be a very rare choice as decoration
leonine mythical beast, its mouth open in a roar, and its tail raised as it for a silver box, as no other examples with this subject matter appear to
stands surrounded by three birds in fight amidst clouds, all on a minutely have been published.
ring-punched ground. The straight sides are similarly decorated with
detached foliate scrolls. 唐 銀局部鎏金鏨刻瑞獸紋小圓蓋盒
1¡ in. (3.5 cm.) diam.; weight 30 g
$12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
no. CK121.
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 81.
EXHIBITED
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 121.
LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 121.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fg. 54g.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, [Tang Gold and Silver in
Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 235.
(another view)
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 124.

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