Page 206 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

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A SMALL FINELY ENGRAVED GILT-BRONZE STEM CUP This superbly engraved stem cup exemplifes the refnement of Tang
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907) dynasty metalwork. A cup of this form decorated with scrolling vines and
grape leaves was unearthed from the reliquary chamber of the pagoda at
The deep sides of the cup are engraved with meticulous detail with a wide
the Qingshan Temple in Lindongxian, Shaanxi province. The construction
band of leafy fower scroll reserved on a ring-punched ground between narrow
of the temple was begun in 736, and in 740 the reliquary was placed in the
bands of similar decoration above and below, and repeated on the spreading
subterranean chamber of the pagoda along with other objects of gold, silver,
foot, and is covered overall in thick, well-preserved gilding.
bronze and ceramic.
2Ω in. (6.3 cm.) high, Japanese wood box
Other cups of this shape with varying foliate scroll decoration are in private
$30,000-50,000 and public collections, including one illustrated by B. Gyllensvard, Chinese
Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, no. 102; one
illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, no.
PROVENANCE
320; one in the collection of Senator Hugh Scott, illustrated in the Golden
Acquired in Japan, 1997.
Age of Chinese Art, 1970, no. 18; one in the collection of Ostasiatische
唐 銅鎏金纏枝花卉紋高足杯
Kunstabteilung, Berlin, included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, Berlin, 12
January - 2 April 1929, no. 438; and another from the Erwin Harris Collection,
sold at Christie’s New York, 16 March 2017, lot 876 (part).
A copy of the Technical Examination Report is available upon request.

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