Lot 125. A small parcel-gilt silver cosmetic box and cover, Tang dynasty, 2nd half of 8th century; d. 3.7 cm, h. 2.1 cm. Lot sold: 126,000 HKD (Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022
of circular form, the slightly domed cover and the base of the box intricately worked in repoussé, each with a rosette comprising of an elaborate interlaced scroll encircling a central hexafoil floret, the tendrils bearing on and enclosed by looping stems, all against a densely ring-matted background, the details further enhanced by gilding, the straight sides and interior left undecorated.
Provenance: Collection of the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, Kobe.
Eskenazi Ltd, London, 15th August 1988.
Literature: Tang, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 1987, cat. no. 12.
Note: A closely related silver box of this circular form and design is illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 89. See also an example included in Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, pl. 355; and another from the collection of Avery Brundage is similarly decorated with an overall design of scrolls derived from the floral repertory chased on a fine ring-matted ground, now in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, accession no. B60M346.
Sotheby's. HOTUNG The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1, Hong Kong, 9 October 2022
