Lot 3010. An extremely rare carved rhinoceros horn 'Double Chilong' libation cup, Ming Dynasty, 15th century; 10.8 cm., 4 1/4 in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD. Lot sold 750,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's 2014

carved with a long-horned three-clawed chilong rising from swirling waves enveloping a conch, the dragon's sinuous body with a bifurcated tail wrapped around the base of the cup, its head peeking over the rim confronting with a smaller chilong clambering from the other side, The base carved with a design of a raging torrent rendered through narrow carved bands swirling out concentrically, the horn of a deep chestnut brown tone.

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York.

Exhibited: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth - Gems of Antiquities Collections in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2003-2005, cat. no. 118.

Literature: Thomas Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 17.

Note: The precision and delicate carving on this libation cup, which is lighter and of a more pronounced shape than late Ming and Qing dynasty examples, point to it being of early Ming production. The richness of the deep brown patina and the iconography itself confirm this dating.

For a closely related early Ming dynasty rhinoceros horn libation cup from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 125, pl. 114. The delicacy of the carving, thinness of the rim and texture of the dark brown patina on the Palace Museum example closely parallels the current libation cup. The chilong depicted clambering over the rim is similarly carved, but picked out in openwork as a handle.

The iconography and carving style of the libation cup also closely matches that on early Ming jades. For a small jade disc attributed to the early Ming dynasty in the Palace Museum, Beijing, boldly worked with a chilong, similarly depicted with writhing body and near identical snarling expression, see Zhongguo meishu fenlei quanji. Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Illustrated classification of Chinese art. Collection of Chinese jade]. 6. Qing, Hebei, 1991, p. 138, pl. 205. Compare also a Ming dynasty jade libation cup in the Palace Museum, Beijing. worked with 'double chilong' handles, illustrated, ibid., p. 160, pl. 233, which shows the popularity of this form.

For similar iconography on porcelain, compare the treatment of the raging torrent on a Yongle period blue and white jue stand from the Frederick M. Mayer and Meiyintang collections, sold in these rooms, 5th October 2011, lot 37. As in the carved decoration on the current libation cup, the crashing waves are depicted swirling up the mountain, similarly depicted to those waves swirling up the exterior walls of the cup. The overall conception of dragons writhing in a raging torrent that rises up the vessel is also captured in a gold and silver jue stand from the tomb of Zhu Zhuanji,  Prince Zhuang of Liang (1411-1441), illustrated by Liang Zhu, ed., Liang Zhuang wang mu / Mausoleum of Prince Liang Zhuangwang, Beijing, 2007, vol. 1, figs. 41 and 42.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2014