Page 82 - 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

544

A FINELY ENGRAVED SMALL SILVER ‘MANDARIN DUCK’
BOX AND COVER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
Both sides of the convex box are chased with a pair of confronted LITERATURE
mandarin ducks enclosed by leafy, foliate scroll, and the upright sides Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
with further foliate scroll, all on a ring-punched ground. Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 94.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
1æ in. (4.4 cm.) diam.; weight 37 g Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fgs. 68b, 80r, 93k.
$25,000-35,000 Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 96.

PROVENANCE The decoration of a pair of mandarin ducks on this box can be seen
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, on other small silver boxes of Tang date, such as the example of even
no. CK94. smaller size (2.9 cm.) illustrated in World of the Heavenly Khan: Treasures
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. of the Tang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, p. 56.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 42. Unlike the pair of ducks on the present box, which are shown confronted,
these ducks are shown standing side-by-side on a lotus leaf. A pair of
EXHIBITED
confronted ducks standing on a lotus decorates the top of a parcel-gilt
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the silver box excavated in 1970 from Prince Bin’s treasure hoard at Hejiacun,
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 94. Shaanxi province, illustrated by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 229, pls. 546-547. As one can see in pl. 547,
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 42, an exhibition touring the United
the bottom of the box has diferent decoration, as does the bottom of the
States and shown also at nine other museums. present box. A pair of mandarin ducks, especially when combined with
lotus (yuanyang), conveys the wish for a harmonious marriage, making it
ftting decoration for a lady’s silver box.

唐 銀鏨刻鴛鴦紋蓋盒

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