Note: A similar cup also fashioned as a lotus leaf with nine chilong is illustrated by T. Fok in Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 50, no. 3. 

Lot 1451. A rare carved rhinoceros horn cup, 17th-18th century; 7 in. (17.8 cm.) long. Estimate USD 200,000 - USD 300,000. Price realised USD 386,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Carved as a large lotus leaf with finely incised veins on the exterior, the base and bottom carved as turbulent waves, with nine lively chilong weaving in and out, two of them undercut and forming the handle, the material a dark brown at the base lightening to a honey tone around the rim.

Provenance: Acquired in Baltimore in the early 1900s and thence by descent within the family. 

Lot 1454. A large 'Eight Immortals' rhinoceros horn cup, 17th century; 6 7/8 in. (17.6 cm.) long. Estimate USD 250,000 - USD 350,000. Price realised USD 302,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Finely carved in high relief with the Eight Immortals arranged four to each side, and with Shoulao seated on a ledge below the pouring end, the god of Longevity flanked by two attendants, one holding a staff, the other a feather fan behind the immortal's head, with a recumbent deer and a crane on the rockwork base below, the handle at the opposite end formed by two fruiting trees, one a peach tree, just over the rim on the interior the head of a dragon is shown emerging from clouds, of dark, slightly reddish-brown color, box.

Note: A few cups carved with the Eight Immortals and Shoulao have been published. One of smaller size (9 cm.), dated to the 17th century, is illustrated by T. Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 82, and subsequently sold in our Hong Kong rooms, from the Songzhutang Collection, 27 May 2008, lot 1726. Another cup carved with the same theme, from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, is illustrated by J. Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, figs. 270-272. See, also, the example sold in these rooms, 16 September 2010, lot 1274. 

Lot 1450. A magnolia-form rhinoceros horn cup, 17th-18th century; 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm.) long. Estimate USD 75,000 - USD 85,000. Price realised USD 182,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Carved as a large open flower with overlapping petals which curl in at the edges, carved around the exterior with magnolia buds and blossoms borne on a gnarled branch that forms the openwork foot.

Lot 1448. A rhinoceros horn cup, 17th-18th century; 5¼ in. (13.3 cm.) long. Estimate USD 65,000 - USD 75,000. Price realised USD 146,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Carved around the waist of the exterior with a diaper band within single line borders, the wide, thumb-grooved handle formed as the curved tongue of a monster-mask head carved at the top, the interior rim carved with a key-fret pattern.

Lot 1453. A rhinoceros horn hibiscus-form cup, 17th-18th century; 5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) long. Estimate USD 40,000 - USD 60,000. Price realised USD 146,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Well carved as a large hibiscus flower borne on an openwork base formed by the stems of buds and leaves carved in relief around the sides as well as the coiled main stem which curves up one end under the body of a chilong peering inquisitively over the rim into the interior which is carved with overlapping petals and a large stamen, of deep honey color.

Provenance: Christie's, New York, 4 June 1992, lot 122.

Lot 1452. A rhinoceros horn cup, 18th-19th century; 7 1/8 in. (18.2 cm.) long. Estimate USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. Price realised USD 116,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Carved as a large leaf with intertwining leafy branches undercut at one end to form the handle and extending into the interior and around the sides, accented with one open blossom and a bud, one leaf extending under the base to form the foot, the reddish-brown interior incised with lines to form veins, of a variegated golden-honey color.

Provenance: Kenyon V. Painter, Cleveland, Ohio and Arusha, Tanzania, c. 1910s-40s.
Sotheby's, New York, 19 March, 2007, lot 382.

Lot 1449. A rhinoceros horn leaf-form cup, 17th-18th century; 6 in. (15 cm.) long. Estimate USD 25,000 - USD 35,000. Price realised USD 98,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Carved on the exterior with stems of begonia flowers (qiuhaitang) and leaves that also form the openwork base, a larger stem rising from the base and overlapping the body of a chilong grasping a stem of lingzhi in its mouth as it pulls itself up on the rim, of dark, slightly reddish-brown color.

Provenance: Christie's, New York, 4 June 1992, lot 123.