Lot 3045. An exquisitely carved archaistic 'chilong' rhinoceros horn libation cup, Ming dynasty, early 17th century. Estimate HKD 3,500,000 - HKD 4,500,000 (USD 460,000 - USD 580,000). Price Realised HKD 5,060,000 (USD 652,619). © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

The generously sized cup with an elegantly proportioned tapering body raised on a splayed foot, carved around the mid-section with a band of stylised phoenix and dragons in shallow relief, one end with five sinuous chilong clambering up the S-shaped handle and peering over the rim, the front with two further chilong, the interior rim with a key-fret band above a conforming stepped well, the underside of the interior foot carved with two characters, Shuli, denoting the name of the carver or the collector, the material of a dark amber tone - 7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) wide, wood stand, box

Provenance: The Fowler Museum Collection, California
The Songzhutang Collection

Literature: T. Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 80, no. 33
Lu Jianchuan, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai shuchan chubanshe, 2005, fig. 121

Exhibited: Hong Kong Museum of Art, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth: Gems of Antiquities Collections in Hong Kong, 2002-2005

Note: The two characters Shuli probably refer to the name of an, as yet, unidentified carver or collector. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 November 2011, Hong Kong