Page 94 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

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A VERY RARE AND FINELY ENGRAVED PARCEL-GILT SILVER
JAR AND COVER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
LITERATURE
The globular body is engraved with four fully opened lotus blossoms, C. T. Loo & Co., Exhibition of Chinese Arts, New York, 1941, no. 182.
each enclosed by leafy, scrolling stems, all reserved and highlighted Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
in gilding on a minutely ring-punched ground. The low, splayed foot is Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 93.
decorated with a sawtooth band. The cover is similarly decorated with a Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far
six-petaled fower centered by the knob. Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fgs. 34a, 85b.
R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts,
2Ω in. (6.5 cm.) high; weight 136 g
London, 1963, pl. 21.
$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. 95.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver],
PROVENANCE
Beijing, 1999, pl. 87.
C. T. Loo & Co., New York, before 1941.
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, No other similar parcel-gilt jar appears to be published, but a plain silver
no. CK93. jar and cover of this shape from the Hejiacun hoard is shown in a line
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. drawing illustrated by Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu (Research
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 63. on Tang gold and silver), Bejing, 1999, p. 100, fg. 1-280. The pleasing
globular shape of these silver jars is more usually found in ceramic
EXHIBITED
examples of Tang date, such as the sancai-glazed pottery jar and cover,
New York, C. T. Loo & Co. Exhibition of Chinese Arts, 1 November 1941-
the jar raised on a spreading foot, illustrated by Osvald Sirén, Kinas
30 April 1942, no. 182.
Konst under Tre Artusenden, Stockholm, 1942, p. 188, fg. 209; and
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og
another sancai-glazed pottery jar and cover illustrated in the catalogue
Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 192.
for the exhibition, Zui to no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Art Museum,
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
1976, p. 8, no. 1:25. Jars of this shape are often referred to as ‘apple’
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 93.
jars. Another sancai-glazed pottery jar and cover of this shape, in the
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The
collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat, is illustrated in the exhibition
Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 41, an exhibition touring the United
catalogue, The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society,
States and shown also at nine other museums.
London, 1955, pl. 7b, no. 135. This jar is raised on an integral stand, but
one can see that it has a circular foot. A Xingyao jar and cover, also in
the Kempe Collection, illustrated by Bo Gyllensvärd in the exhibition
catalogue, Chinese Gold & Silver and Porcelain, Asia House Gallery, New
York, 1971, p. 92, no. 79, has the same shape, a low foot, and is incised on
the sides with four large petals.
唐 銀局部鎏金鏨刻蓮紋蓋罐

(overhead view)
The present jar and cover illustrated on the
title page of Chinese Gold & SIlver in the Carl
Kempe Collection, by Bo Gyllensvärd, 1953.
Photographer unknown.
92