Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1 December 2010, Hong Kong
A finely carved rhinoceros horn libation cup, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century
Lot 3169. A finely carved rhinoceros horn libation cup, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century; 5 1/2 in. (14 cm.) wide. Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 700,000. Price Realized HKD 2,420,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2010
The elongated oval cup carved in deep relief and in openwork around the sides with a continuous scene depicting two figures and a child in a raft travelling on a fast-flowing river towards a fisherman wading in the river with a large basket of fish amidst branches of pine and wutong trees emerging from the cliff-strewn riverbanks, the pierced handle formed by further leafy branches emerging from rocky outcrops continuing over the rim to the interior, the material of a warm deep reddish-brown tone, stand.
Provenance: Acquired in Beijing in the 1930s and thence by descent within the family to the present owner.
Note: The mallet form vase, or kinuta vase, was greatly admired by Japanese as well as Chinese patrons during the Song and Yuan periods for the fine quality of its celadon glaze. Indeed, the name kinuta, although referring to a shape, has come to be specifically associated with the most esteemed Longquan glaze colour. This has been described by G. St. G. M. Gompertz as 'ethereal bluish green', by Chinese connoisseurs as fen qing, and the vases overall have been described by Japanese connoisseurs as 'graceful forms and dripping blue-green glaze'. See G. St. G. M. Gompertz Chinese Celadon Wares, London, 1958, p. 51.
The mallet vase shape is known in three main variants from the Longquan kilns. Very rarely it was made without handles, as in the case of a vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing. See Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 112, no. 100. The majority of these vases, however, were made with two elaborate handles, either in the form of phoenixes, as exemplified by another vase in the Beijing Palace Museum, ibid. p. 110, no. 98, or in the form of fish as in the case of the current vase. The variant with fish handles is much rarer than that with phoenix handles. The fish have dragon heads, and this has led to them being called dragon handles or dragon-fish handles by some authors.
A mallet vase with dragon-fish handles was excavated in 1983 from a Southern Song tomb at Congyangxian. See Zhu Boqian, ed., Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 149, no. 116. Another larger example sold at Christie's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 561.