Note: These gold and silver sheet bird and animal-ornaments would have been made as pingtuo inlay for the lacquered backs of bronze mirrors of Tang-dynasty date. Mirrors of this type reflected the splendor and sumptuous taste of the Tang court, and also found their way to Japan, perhaps as diplomatic gifts. An eight-lobed mirror of this type in the Shoso-in is illustrated by Ryochi Hayashi, The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, New York/Tokyo, 1975, p. 129, fig. 142. Others include the circular example inlaid in silver with a pheonix and a peacock, as well as other birds in flight, illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Beijing, 2005, pl. 84, and another of square quadrilobed shape in silver with four phoenixes, pl. 83. An octalobed mirror of this type is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, vol. 8, Arts and Crafts - Lacquerware, Beijing, 1989, p. 80, no. 78. A fine rounded square example inlaid in gold and silver with four phoenixes is illustrated by Suzanne E. Cahill, The Lloyd Cotsen Study Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, vol. II, Studies, p. 162, fig. 1. See, also, the two gold and silver pingtuo-inlaid lacquered bronze mirrors from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections sold at Christie's New York, 18 March 2009, lot 240 and 14 September 2009, lot 34. A pair of gilded silver, phoenix-form cut-outs from the Falk Collection sold at Christie's New York, 16 October 2001, lot 189.

Lot 548. A rare pair of parcel-gilt silver hairpins, Tang dynasty (618-907). Each 11 in. (28 cm.) long; weight 17 and 17.6 g. Estimate USD 40,000 - USD 60,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The gilded head of each double-pronged silver hairpin has a delicate, chased openwork design depicting a pair of mandarin ducks in flight amidst scrolling tendrils that also enclose a lotus leaf and flowers, all issuing from the jaws of a dragon head, leather box.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK126.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 52.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 126.
Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 24d, fig. 84b.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 136. 

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 126.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 63, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Note: The opulence of the Tang court is reflected not only in the use of gold and silver for the manufacture of vessels, but also for the decoration of everyday objects and personal adornment. For the ladies of the court this included rich jewelry such as necklaces, earrings and bracelets, as well as combs and hairpins that adorned their hair styles, which became more elaborate as the dynasty progressed. Later in the Tang period the ends of the hairpins were often made from thin sheet silver with cut-out designs that made them light in weight and, along with the addition of gilding, made the hairpins shimmer and quiver as the woman moved. 

The present hairpins are very similar to one dated Tang dynasty, late 8th-9th century, in the collection of the Art Museum, Princeton University, and illustrated by Clarence W. Kelley, Chinese Gold and Silver in American Collections, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, 1984, p. 39, no. 5. (Fig. 1) Other similar hairpins include one originally in the collection of the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott and now in the collection of Pierre Uldry, illustrated in Chinesishes Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, p. 205, no. 219, and the example illustrated by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 134, pl. 331. A related gilt-silver hairpin in the Royal Ontario Museum is illustrated in Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth, Toronto, 1992, p. 223, pl. 127 (bottom). All of these hairpins include a pair of confronted mandarin ducks, an appropriate motif for a lady of the court as mandarin ducks symbolize connubial bliss and fidelity. Two further openwork, gilded silver hairpins in the Royal Ontario Museum, also illustrated pl. 127, have similarly feminine motifs - one of knotted cords representing the unbreakable union of marriage, the other of a phoenix, the symbol of the empress who embodied all feminine attributes.

Lot 549. A very fine petal-lobed silver stem cup, Tang dynasty (618-907); 2 ¾ in. (6.9 cm.) diam.; weight 85 g. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The small bowl is divided into eight petal-shaped lobes, each delicately engraved with birds including ducks, geese and a parrot amidst rocks and trees in a landscape, the birds shown either in flight, or alternately looking towards or away from each other, all against a very fine ring-punched ground above engraved lotus petals rising from the stem foot with spreading, petal-lobed base similarly decorated with bands of foliate scrolls.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK110.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 40.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 110a.
Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 8b, fig. 62m.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang gold and silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi'an, 1989, pl. 59.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 113.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver], Beijing, 1999, pl. 8. 

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 110.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 54, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Note: Silver stem cups of this elegant, lobed shape, where the lobes continue up to a slightly everted edge, are very rare. A very similar stem cup from the collection of Martin Mansson was sold at Christie's London, 10 May 2011, lot 178. The Mansson cup was referenced by Gyllensvärd in his various catalogues of the Kempe Collection as a comparable of the present cup. Another cup of this shape, decorated with hunting motifs, dated to the 8th century, is in the Hakutsuru Art Museum and illustrated by Ryoichi Hayashi, The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, New York/Tokyo, 1975, p. 86, pl. 88.

Lot 550. A very rare and finely engraved parcel-gilt silver jar and cover, Tang dynasty (618-907); 2 ½ in. (6.5 cm.) high; weight 136 g. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019. 

The globular body is engraved with four fully opened lotus blossoms, each enclosed by leafy, scrolling stems, all reserved and highlighted in gilding on a minutely ring-punched ground. The low, splayed foot is decorated with a sawtooth band. The cover is similarly decorated with a six-petaled flower centered by the knob. 

Provenance: C. T. Loo & Co., New York, before 1941.
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK93.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 63. 

Literature: C. T. Loo & Co., Exhibition of Chinese Arts, New York, 1941, no. 182.
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 93.
Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, figs. 34a, 85b.
R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, London, 1963, pl. 21.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 95.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver], Beijing, 1999, pl. 87.  

Exhibited: New York, C. T. Loo & Co. Exhibition of Chinese Arts, 1 November 1941-30 April 1942, no. 182. 
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 192.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 93.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 41, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Note: No other similar parcel-gilt jar appears to be published, but a plain silver jar and cover of this shape from the Hejiacun hoard is shown in a line drawing illustrated by Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu (Research on Tang gold and silver), Bejing, 1999, p. 100, fig. 1-280. The pleasing globular shape of these silver jars is more usually found in ceramic examples of Tang date, such as the sancai-glazed pottery jar and cover, the jar raised on a spreading foot, illustrated by Osvald Sirén, Kinas Konst under Tre Artusenden, Stockholm, 1942, p. 188, fig. 209; and another sancai-glazed pottery jar and cover illustrated in the catalogue for the exhibition, Zui to no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Art Museum, 1976, p. 8, no. 1:25. Jars of this shape are often referred to as 'apple' jars. Another sancai-glazed pottery jar and cover of this shape, in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1955, pl. 7b, no. 135. This jar is raised on an integral stand, but one can see that it has a circular foot. A Xingyao jar and cover, also in the Kempe Collection, illustrated by Bo Gyllensvärd in the exhibition catalogue, Chinese Gold and Silver and Porcelain, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, p. 92, no. 79, has the same shape, a low foot, and is incised on the sides with four large petals.

Lot 551. A very rare and important large parcel-gilt silver bowl, Tang dynasty (618-907); 9 5/8 in. (24.5 cm.) diam.; weight 1052 g. Estimate USD 2,000,000 - USD 3,000,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.  

The large bowl is finely worked in repoussé with three rows of overlapping lotus petals, each gilded and exquisitely chased with a pair of birds in flight confronted on a ribbon tied in four loops against a background of leafy foliate sprays amidst leafy foliage, all below a further row of smaller repoussé petals that alternate with clusters of stamen below slender lancelot leaf tips that point towards the everted rim. The center of the interior is chased with a large medallion depicting eight birds in flight against a background of leafy foliate sprays as they encircle a ribbon tied in four loops with trailing ends.  

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK117.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 54.  

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 117.
Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 24b, fig. 39c.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang gold and silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi'an, 1989, pl. 146.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 119.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver], Beijing, 1999, cat. no. 50.   

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 117.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 57, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Lot 552. A rare silver spherical censer, Tang dynasty (618-907); 2 in. (5 cm.) diam.; weight 46 g. Estimate USD 100,000 - USD 150,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The globular censer is comprised of two hinged, openwork half-spheres, the upper half decorated with a design of two pairs of parrots facing each other as they pick at grapes in the midst of scrolling, leafy vines, the lower half with scrolling, leafy vines bearing flowers and fruit. The interior is fitted with a gimbaled system of two silver rings holding a gilt-bronze hemispherical bowl that remains upright irrespective of the movement of the outer sphere, and the censer is suspended on a hooked chain. 

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK97.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 56. 

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 97.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi'an, 1989, pl. 292.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 99.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver], Beijing, 1999, pl. 92. 

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 97. 

Note: A censer of this type unearthed in 1970, Hejiacun, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, is illustrated in Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang Hoard, Shaanxi History Museum, Wenwu, 2003, pp. 222-25. and again by Carol Michaelson in Gilded Dragons: Buried Treasures from China's Golden Ages, British Museum, 1999, pp. 111-12, no. 73. The author notes that four censers of this type were also found in the hoard at the Famen Temple, also near Xi'an. Other censers of this type with related decoration include one in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, illustrated by Jan Fontein and Tung Wu in Unearthing China's Past, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1973, p. 178, no. 91 (fig. 1); one formerly in the Hakutsuru Art Museum, included in the exhibition, Tang, Eskenazi, London, 1987, no. 1; and one in the collection of Pierre Uldry illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, no. 201. The design on these censers is different from that of the present example, which reflects the variation of designs that can be found on censers of this type. 

For further discussion of silver censers of this type and their gimbaled mechanism, see the footnote to lot 540.

Lot 553. A fine and rare large silver ladle, Tang dynasty (618-907); 10 ¼ in. (26 cm.) long; weight 67.5 g. Estimate USD 40,000 - USD 60,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019. 

The deep, petal-lobed bowl is finely engraved on the exterior with three birds amidst leafy foliate scroll on a minutely ring-punched ground, and the long handle is decorated with further foliate scroll and terminates in a bird's head.  

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK105.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 62.  

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 105.
Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, 1957, pl. 15a, fig. 95g.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi'an, 1989, pl. 198.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 110.  

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 105.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 50, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Note: This elegant, parcel-gilt silver ladle, with its lobed oval bowl and engraved and chased decoration of birds amidst floral scrolls reserved on a fine ring-punched ground on the exterior, is similar to several other published examples, including the example in The Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated by Clarence W. Kelley, Chinese Gold and Silver in American Collections, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, 1984, no. 10 (Fig. 1); one in the Seattle Art Museum included in the exhibition, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 1957, no. 348; and one originally in the collections of Mrs. Christian R. Holmes and the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott, subsequently sold at Christie's New York, 2-4 December 1982, lot 399, and later illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1994, pp. 166-67, no. 157. All of these also have a similar slender, curved handle that terminates in the small head of a bird.

Lot 554. A fine small parcel-gilt silver quatrefoil cup, Tang dynasty (618-907); 2 ¼ in. ( 5.7 cm.) wide; weight 27.5 g. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019. 

The oblong cup is formed as four bracket-lobed petals, each finely engraved on the exterior with a pair of geese, each pair shown confronting each other on either side of a foliate motif, the two pairs on the long sides shown standing and the two pairs at the ends shown in flight, all against a ring-punched ground, the details highlighted in gilding.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK95.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 53.  

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 95.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, pl. 11b, fig. 68c, fig. 69a.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, [Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi’an, 1989, pl. 82.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 97.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver], Beijing, 1999, pl. 19.  

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-1955, cat. no. 95.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 43, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, From Silver to Ceramic, the Potter’s Debt to Metal Work in the Graeco-Roman, Oriental and Islamic Worlds, 1986, pl. 31 (bottom). 

Note: Cups of this oblong, quatrefoil shape appear to be rare. One raised on a higher foot, in the Pierre Uldry Collection, is illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, p. 152, pl. 138. A larger (11.7 cm. long) quadrilobed bowl with rounded sides, rather than barbed petal lobes, decorated on the exterior with foliate scroll on a ring-punched ground, but raised on a low, quadrilobed foot, in The Frederick M. Mayer Collection of Chinese Art, was sold at Christie's London, 24-25 June 1974, lot 167. A plain beaten silver quadrilobed bowl with straight, flared sides, its lobes formed by indentations, in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, is illustrated by Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971, p. 58, no. 78, where it is dated Tang.

The small bowl is worked in repoussé to form ten petals, each finely engraved with small birds in flight amidst flowering plants. The lower body is similarly decorated with waterdrop-shaped, convex petals, each engraved with a bird and flowers. The knobbed and lobed foot terminates in a splayed, petal-lobed base decorated with a floral pattern.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK111.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 71.   

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 111.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cuibian [Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections], Xi'an, 1989, pl. 53.
Qi Dongfang, Tangdai jin yin qi yan jiu [Research on Tang gold and silver], Beijing, 1999, p. 402, fig. 3-107-4.  

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 111.