Page 150 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

574

TWO SILVER HAIRPINS
10TH CENTURY
Each with an openwork head: one chased with two birds fanking a
ribbon with trailing ends, the details engraved and highlighted in gilding;
the second similarly decorated in repoussé with a pair of geese in fight.
6¡ and 5Ω in. (16.3 and 14 cm.) long; weight 7.3 and 4.6 g (2)
$4,000-6,000
PROVENANCE
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
no. CK149 and CK150.
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 100.
EXHIBITED
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. nos. 149 and 150.
LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1953, cat. nos. 149 and 150.
The ‘geese’ hairpin: Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the
574
Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fg. 89d.
575 Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999,
THREE TURQUOISE-INLAID GOLD ORNAMENTS pls. 47 and 148.
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
十世紀 銀鏤空雙鸞銜綬紋簪兩件
The group of ornaments is comprised of a pair of crescent-shaped comb
tops, each formed from gold sheet and decorated with a central fower
fanked by a pair of birds in fight, all formed by cloisons, some with
turquoise inlays; and a gold rosette similarly decorated with turquoise
and glass inlays.
Comb tops 3¿ in. (8 cm.) long; weight 3.6 g each; leather box
Rosette 1¡ in. (3.5 cm.) diam.; weight 1.3 g (3)

$4,000-6,000
PROVENANCE
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
nos. 37 and no. 38.
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 85.
EXHIBITED
Comb tops: Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i
Svensk og Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 170.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. nos. 37 and 38.
Comb tops: New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and
Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 14, an exhibition touring
the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1953, cat. nos. 37 and 38.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 7e, fgs.12c and 80v. 575
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999,
pls. 35 and 36.
唐 金嵌綠松石飾一組三件