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138 Y
A RARE RHINOCEROS HORN ARCHAISTIC TRIPOD
LIBATION CUP, JUE
18th century
Exquisitely worked in the form of an archaistic wine vessel, jue, the cup
of flared form raised on three plantain-shaped spreading legs, the body
superbly carved in low relief with a central register enclosing two taotie
masks formed of pairs of confronted stylised kui dragons, reserved on
a leiwen ground, below a band of upright-cicada blades and a key-fret
border around and on the rim as well as framing the ridged feet each
issuing from the jaws of a taotie mask and terminating in a leaf, with a
pierced scroll-shaped twin handle supporting a chi dragon clambering
over the rim, flanked by two further young dragons clambering over
each side, the horn of a dark coffee-brown tone.
15.2cm (6in) long

HK$140,000 - 160,000
US$18,000 - 21,000

十八世紀 犀角雕仿古螭龍爵杯

Provenance:
An important European private collection

來源：
重要歐洲私人收藏

The present lot is exquisitely carved, combining superb low and high 杯仿古代青銅爵造型。口兩端上翹呈前流後尾形，口沿刻雷紋一周，
relief carving techniques, demonstrating the finest level of rhinoceros 口沿及柄雕三螭龍。腹部刻變形蟬紋及夔龍紋。杯下承三足外撇。此
horn carving achieved during the 18th century. The archaic inspiration 杯採用陰刻、鏤雕及浮雕等技法，構思巧妙，造型新穎，既有古韻，
is consistent with the Qianlong emperor’s wishes to ‘restore the 又有創新，是仿古器中的佳作。清宮藝術中多見仿古彝器的作品，必
ancient ways’, reinstating the intrinsic qualities of simplicity, sincerity 與乾隆皇帝慕古敏求的追求有關，他常命造辦處按照《西清古鑑》為
and happy exuberance of the ancient cultures. For this purpose, the 藍本作仿古器。
emperor instructed the Court to collect drawings of antiquities, such as
the ‘Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities’ (Xi Qing Gu Jian 西清古鑑), which 見北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件清中期犀角雕螭紋爵杯，《故宮博
served as a source of designs for the production of contemporary 物院珍藏文物珍品全集：竹木牙角雕刻》，香港，2002年，圖205；
vessels; see Chang Li-tuan, The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special 另見哈佛大學博物院藏一例，霍滿堂，《中國犀角雕刻珍賞》，香
Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 港，1999年，圖36。
1997, pp.49-50.
舊金山邦瀚斯曾售出一件十七/十八世紀犀角雕三足爵杯，2010年12
Compare a related rhinoceros horn, jue, mid-Qing dynasty, illustrated 月13日，拍品5065；另見倫敦佳士得售出一例，2011年5月10日，
in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: 拍品6。
Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong,
2002, pl.205; for another related jue, 18th century, in the Harvard
University Art Museums, see T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros
Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pl.36.

See a related rhinoceros horn tripod libation cup, jue, 17th/18th
century, which was sold in our San Francisco rooms, 13 December
2010, lot 5065; and another jue, with upright loop handles, 17th
century, which was sold at Christie’s London, 10 May 2011, lot 6.

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