Page 160 - 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

586

A RARE SILVER EWER AND COVER
SONG-YUAN DYNASTY (AD 960-1368)
The bud or melon-shaped body is raised on a low foot ring and applied The shape of this silver ewer can be seen in various ceramic wares as
with a futed handle and a curved spout. The cover is chased with narrow, early as the 10th century. A stoneware ewer of this shape (18.1 cm. high),
overlapping petals that radiate from the base of the bud-shaped knob to described as being of elongated melon shape, also with a curved spout
the scalloped edge of the everted rim. and strap handle, as well as a cover, but raised on a fat base, dated
10th-12th century, in the Falk Collection, was sold at Christie’s New
4æ in. (12.2 cm.) high; weight 192 g; ftted leather box
York, 20 September 2001, lot 32. Another stoneware ewer (15 cm. high)
$20,000-30,000 of this shape, covered with a transparent, creamy glaze, is illustrated
by Bo Gyllensvärd in Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1964, p. 154, pl. 493. Like the present silver ewer, it is raised
PROVENANCE
on a low foot and has a cover, but the body is lobed and the diagonally
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, set spout is short.
no. CK137.
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. 宋/元 銀瓜形帶蓋執壺
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 108.

EXHIBITED
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 137.

LITERATURE
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 137.
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999.

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