Page 265 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

The carving of the present lot is exquisite and detailed, with elegant
spreading veins and curling raised leaf edges on the interior,
contrasting with the crisp peony petals on the exterior and the
humorous charming insect straddling two leaf tips, whose enjoyment
of his environment is further hinted by the nibbled holes scattered on
the leaves.

J.Chapman illustrates a detail of a cup from the Staatliches Museum
für Völkerkunde, Munich, ref.VIII.118, carved as a leaf with two
praying mantis on the front and two more on the back: see The Art
of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p.184, no.245.
Another libation cup similarly carved as a peony but with a butterfly
and bee is illustrated in Ming and Qing Chinese Art from the C.P.Lin
Collection, Hong Kong, 2014, p.290, no.174. Compare also a cup
carved as a leaf embellished with a similar insect, 17th century,
illustrated by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in
China, Hong Kong, 1999, no.118, and two further rhinoceros horn
libation cups with related treatment of the floral carving, 17th/18th
century, illustrated ibid., nos.85 and 89.

A similar rhinoceros horn libation cup, 18th century, was sold at
Bonhams London, 14 May 2015, lot 248.

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