A parcel-gilt silver garment-hook, Warring States Period
Lot 23. A parcel-gilt silver garment-hook, Warring States Period (475-221 BC), 16.7cm., 6 5/8 in. Estimate 3,000 — 4,000 GBP. Lot sold 8,125 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's
the wide, gently curved body ending in a simple hook and cast with an openwork design of a pair of confronting birds surrounded by interlocking scrolls, surmounted by the head of a stylised beast. Weight 119.5g.
Exhibited: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 82.
Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat. no. 35, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums
Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 82.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 85.
Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008