Lot Essay
The decoration on this box appears to be a very rare choice as decoration for a silver box, as no other examples with this subject matter appear to have been published.
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TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
Details
A SMALL PARCEL-GILT SILVER 'MYTHICAL BEAST' CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The box and cover are finely engraved and parcel-gilt with a winged, leonine mythical beast, its mouth open in a roar, and its tail raised as it stands surrounded by three birds in flight amidst clouds, all on a minutely ring-punched ground. The straight sides are similarly decorated with detached foliate scrolls.
1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) diam.; weight 30 g
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The box and cover are finely engraved and parcel-gilt with a winged, leonine mythical beast, its mouth open in a roar, and its tail raised as it stands surrounded by three birds in flight amidst clouds, all on a minutely ring-punched ground. The straight sides are similarly decorated with detached foliate scrolls.
1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) diam.; weight 30 g
Provenance
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK121.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 81.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 81.
Literature
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 121.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fig. 54g.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, [Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 235.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 124.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fig. 54g.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, [Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 235.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 124.
Exhibited
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 121.