Lot 137. Two silver stem cups, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907). Heights 2 3/8  in., 6 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 20,000 USD. Photo Sotheby’s.

each with an everted rim, supported on a short spreading foot, one finely chased on the exterior with pointed arches enclosing birds and animals, separated by a beaded edge from shaped panels enclosing scrolling foliage, details picked out in gilt, all against a fine ring-punched ground; the other unadorned except for a fold around the middle (2).

Provenance: Acquired in New York, 1981.

Note: Examples of stem cups similar to the first are illustrated in Pierre Uldry, Chinesisches Gold Und Silber, Zurich, 1994, cat. nos. 134-137; and one from the Carl Kempe Collection sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 71. A bowl with a similar decoration to the second cup is illustrated in Duan Shu’an and Li Hong, Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang Hoard, Beijing, 2003, no. 17. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 16 sept. 2014