A number of related vessels decorated with scholars in landscape are known: see two published in Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pls. 275 and 278, the former in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from the Avery Brundage collection, and the latter in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Compare also a cup fashioned in a similar carving style to the present example, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, published in Craig Clunas, Chinese Carving, London, 1996, fig. 27; and a slightly earlier example, carved with a continuous scene of landscape and waterscape with pavilions, from the collection of Thomas Fok, included in Thomas Fok,Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 162, attributed to the 17th century.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong | 08 Oct 2013 -www.sothebys.com