Page 92 - 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

549

A VERY FINE PETAL-LOBED SILVER STEM CUP
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
LITERATURE
The small bowl is divided into eight petal-shaped lobes, each delicately Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
engraved with birds including ducks, geese and a parrot amidst rocks Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 110a.
and trees in a landscape, the birds shown either in fight, or alternately Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
looking towards or away from each other, all against a very fne ring- Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 8b, fg. 62m.
punched ground above engraved lotus petals rising from the stem foot Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang gold and silver in
with spreading, petal-lobed base similarly decorated with bands of Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 59.
foliate scrolls. Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 113.
2æ in. (6.9 cm.) diam.; weight 85 g
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver],
$50,000-70,000 Beijing, 1999, pl. 8.
Silver stem cups of this elegant, lobed shape, where the lobes continue
PROVENANCE up to a slightly everted edge, are very rare. A very similar stem cup from
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, the collection of Martin Mansson was sold at Christie’s London, 10
no. CK110. May 2011, lot 178. The Mansson cup was referenced by Gyllensvärd in
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. his various catalogues of the Kempe Collection as a comparable of the
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 40. present cup. Another cup of this shape, decorated with hunting motifs,
dated to the 8th century, is in the Hakutsuru Art Museum and illustrated
EXHIBITED
by Ryoichi Hayashi, The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, New York/Tokyo,
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
1975, p. 86, pl. 88.
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 110.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The
唐 銀鏨刻花鳥紋高足花口盃
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 54, an exhibition touring the United
States and shown also at nine other museums.

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