Page 272 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN FAMILY
歐洲家族藏品
Lots 286 - 301

286 Y
A RHINOCEROS HORN ARCHAISTIC
‘NINE-DRAGON’ LIBATION CUP
17th/18th century
Crisply carved to the exterior with confronted
archaistic phoenix reserved on a dense leiwen
ground, below a key-fret band encircling the rim,
the openwork handle formed with a large chilong
biting and clambering on the rim of the cup, with
six smaller kins variously perching and crouching,
the interior with two further chilong in confrontation,
the short foot mounted on a silver stand similarly
decorated with archaistic phoenixes.
14.8cm (5 3/4in) long
£25,000 - 40,000
CNY220,000 - 360,000

十七/十八世紀 犀角仿古夔鳳紋蟠螭耳盃

Provenance: an important European private
collection

來源： 重要歐洲私人收藏

The present lot is decorated with a band of stylised
dragons in shallow relief adopted from ancient
bronzes, reflecting the 17th/18th century trend
of ‘evidential scholarship’ (kaoju xue 考據學) not
only with ancient texts, but also archaeology and
inscriptions on archaic bronzes, as scholars sought
an empirical approach to understanding their ancient
heritage. Numerous rhinoceros horns with similar
archaistic designs from the 17th/18th century are
illustrated by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros
Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, nos.13,
20, 25, 27. See also similar archaistic designs on
rhinoceros horns illustrated by J.Chapman, The Art
of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, 1999, London,
p.153.

Compare with a related archaistic rhinoceros horn
libation cup, 17th/18th century, which was sold at
Bonhams London, 10 November 2011, lot 433.

286 (two views) For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.