Page 131 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

569

A CIRCULAR GOLD ‘TORTOISE’ BOX AND COVER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
One side of the circular box is delicately chased with a circular medallion
of a tortoise with raised head walking amidst peony scroll, the other side Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 41.
is decorated with a circular medallion of a fower surrounded by scrolling, Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
leafy sprays, and the upright sides with foliate scroll, all reserved on a fne Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fg. 58g.
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
ring-punched ground.
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 39.
1¿ in. ( 2.9 cm.) diam.; weight 16.3 g
During the Tang dynasty, small gold and silver circular boxes were used
$30,000-50,000
for various purposes including holding medicinal powders and beauty
products. Silver boxes were far more prevalent, many of which were
PROVENANCE gilded or parcel-gilt, a less expensive alternative to the more prestigious
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, gold. Two other rare, small gold boxes in the collection of Pierre Uldry are
no. CK41. illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zürich, 1994, p. 170,
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. nos. 164 and 165.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 80.
唐 金刻蠵龜花鳥紋小圓蓋盒
EXHIBITED
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og
Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 173.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 41.

(another view)