Lot 346. A gilt copper repoussé Buddhist plaque, Tang dynasty (618-907); Diameter 27.5 cm, 10⅞ in. Lot sold: 56,700 GBP (Estimate: 50,000 - 70,000 GBP). (C) 2021 Sotheby's

of circular form, repousse and open work, depicting a moustachioed foreigner standing beside a large rhinoceros, the beast wearing a saddle blanket supporting a large flower-filled double lotus basin, all reserved on a dense foliate scroll ground.

Provenance: Hartman Rare Art, Inc. New York, acquired in 1995. 

Literature: Jean-Paul Desroches, Two Americans in Pairs, a quest for Asian art, 2016, Paris, no. 246.

Note: This impressive gilt-copper plaque with its meticulously executed rhinoceros motif appears to be unique. Rhinoceros were considered auspicious beasts during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Guarding the tomb of the founder of the Tang, the Gaozu Emperor (566-635), were a large pair of stone sculptures of rhinoceros, one of which is now preserved in the Xi’an Beilin Museum. According to Edward H. Schafer (The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1963, pp. 83-4), tamed rhinoceroses were brought by embassies of various countries to the Tang court, some having been trained to perform, like performing elephants. Rhinoceroses performed, for example, during palace entertainments at the court of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 713-756). Some, however, held in the imperial park at Chang’an, did not survive the region’s cold winters.

Sotheby's. Two Americans in Paris, The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, London, 4 November 2021