Page 86 - 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

546

A FINELY ENGRAVED SMALL SILVER CUP
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
LITERATURE
The sides are fnely engraved and chased on the exterior with a formally Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
arranged pattern of conjoined foliate scrolls, all against a ring-punched Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 90.
ground above the low, faring ring foot. One side is applied with a Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
ring-handle with a projecting thumb piece on top. Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 12b, fgs 24g, 78i.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, [Tang Gold and Silver in
1æ in. (4.5 cm.) high; weight 53.3 g
Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 72.
$50,000-70,000 Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 92.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver],
PROVENANCE
Beijing, 1999, pl.12.
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953,
no. CK90. Tang-dynasty silver cups of this elegant, slightly waisted shape are
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. known both with and without a handle. One of the latter type, decorated
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 43. with geese in fight amidst plants, is illustrated by Han Wei and Christian
Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 151, pl. 374. Examples with
EXHIBITED
a handle similar to that on the present cup, include the cup illustrated
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
in Tang, Eskenazi, London, 1987, no. 8, which is decorated with scrolling
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-1955, cat. no. 90.
grapevine and peony scroll on a ring-punched ground, and two others
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The
illustrated in Zui to no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Museum, 1976, nos.
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 40 an exhibition touring the United
2-28 and 2-30. The handle on the Eskenazi cup is described as being
States and shown also at nine other museums.
“pinned to the cup through a foral applique.” Unlike the decoration on
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, From Silver to Ceramics, the Potter’s Debt
the aforementioned cups, the decoration on the present cup covers the
to Metal Work in the Graeco-Roman, Oriental and Islamic Worlds, 1986,
entire surface of the sides rather than being separated by a narrow bow-
pl. 33 (bottom).
string band from a narrow band of decoration below the rim.
唐 銀鏨刻卷草紋盃

(detail)