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A SMALL SUPERB AND FINELY DECORATED 唐 銀局部鎏金鏨寶相花紋小蓋盒
PARCEL-GILT-SILVER BOX AND COVER, TANG
DYNASTY 來源
Japanese wood boxes (6) 繭山龍泉堂，東京，購於1960至1969年之間
Diameter 1⅞ in., 4.8 cm 日本私人收藏
紐約蘇富比2013年3月19至20日，編號10
PROVENANCE
戴克成，巴黎，2013年
Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo, acquired between 1960
and 1969.
Japanese Private Collection. 文獻
Sotheby’s New York, 19th-20th March 2013, lot 10. 《龍泉集芳》，卷2，繭山龍泉堂，東京，1976年，
Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, 2013. 圖版80

LITERATURE
Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 2, Mayuyama & Co., Ltd.,
Tokyo, 1976, pl. 80.
Gold and silver are eternal symbols of wealth and luxury and
have been coveted in every period, but perhaps never more
so than among the elites of the Tang dynasty. Gold- and
silversmiths are recorded to have been active in Henan,
Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Guangxi provinces, and
precious metal shops selling gold and silver vessels were
known to operate in the capital, Chang’an (Xi’an in Shaanxi),
as well as several other affluent towns and major trading
ports such as Yangzhou in Jiangsu. The wide distribution of
manufacturing centers of gold and silver wares in the Tang
period gave rise to a wide spectrum of styles, including small
delicate boxes, such as the present example, made by the
finest hands of the most skillful craftsmen of the period.
Very few silver boxes of a comparable quality have appeared
at auction. Compare one decorated with mythical beasts
and birds among undulating foliate scrolls, formerly in
the collection of J.M.A.J. Dawson, sold in these rooms,
19th March 2024, lot 264; another with birds among
floral scrolls, from the Carl Kempe Collection, first sold
in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 42 and later at
Christie’s New York, 12th September 2019, lot 544; and a
third decorated in parcel-gilt with a flower design, sold at
Christie’s New York, 20th September 2013, lot 1467.
⊖ $ 50,000-70,000

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