Lot 817. A very rare gold cup with chase decoration, Song dynasty (960-1279); 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm.) wide, cloth box. Estimate USD 200,000 – USD 300,000. Price realised USD 428,400.  © Christie's 2023

The shallow cup is of slightly irregular, circular form, and is finely chased in the center of the interior with a delicate leafy spray bearing a lotus bud and two lotus flowers. The rim of the cup is set on one side with a flat, crescent-shaped, lobed flange chased with a single fruit flanked by leaves and projects over a plain loop handle.

Provenance: The Zhang Renjie (1877-1950), Ton-Ying Collection.
Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1940) Collection.
Collection of Senator Hugh Scott (1900-1994).
Sotheby's New York, 4 June 1985, lot 37.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 4726.

Literature: H. Scott, The Golden Age of Chinese Art: The Lively Tang Dynasty, Tokyo, 1966, p. 49, no. 12.
R. D. Kinsman, Chinese Art from the Collection of the Hon. Hugh Scott, Fredericksburg, VA, 1968, no. 17a-b.
Wang Yi-t'ung and B. Wiant, Chinese Art from the Collections of the Honorable Hugh Scott, Pittsburgh, 1970, no. 20-12.
P. Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971, p. 68, no. 98.
J. J. Lally & Co., Silver and Gold in Ancient China, New York, 2012, no. 38.

Exhibited: Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown Art Museum, 1968.
Fredericksburg, Virginia, Mary Washington College Art Gallery, 1968.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1969.
Richmond, Virginia, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1969.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, 1969.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, 1-29 March 1970.
New York, China Institute in America, 21 October 1971-30 January 1972.
New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Silver and Gold in Ancient China, 16 March-14 April 2012, no. 38.

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE CHASED GOLD CUP FROM THE SONG DYNASTY

Robert D. Mowry
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and
Senior Consultant, Christie’s

Dating to the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279), this exceptionally rare gold cup demonstrates that Chinese sophistication in goldsmithing persisted from the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) well into the Song. The vessel’s finely chased decoration features a leafy spray bearing a single lotus bud and two stylized lotus blossoms on its flat floor and a single fruit at the center of a symmetrical arrangement of leaves on the horizontal flange that serves as its wing, or grip, handle. The cup’s plain, lightly burnished side walls perfectly showcase the elegant decorative scheme. The vertically set, loop handle that appears under the lobed, crescent-shaped flange visually echoes the vessel’s narrow, half-round lip. Frequently exhibited and often published, this beautiful cup has a distinguished provenance, having passed through the Ton-Ying Collection of Zhang Renjie (1877–1950) as well as through the collections of Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871–1940) and U.S. Senator Hugh Scott (1900–1994).

Some have suggested that this vessel might have served as a brush washer for the desk of an emperor or high government official, as ceramic examples in this shape sometimes served as brush washers in the studios of the literati in Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) times.[1] In fact, the exact function of such gold vessels at the time of their creation has yet to be determined, but at least some archaeologists believe that they were used as drinking cups at the imperial court.[2]

As witnessed by this superb cup, the decorative motifs on Song gold and silver vessels typically appear against a plain, unembellished ground in contrast to the beautiful but staid designs on Tang vessels whose backgrounds were frequently textured with row upon row of tiny intaglio circles referred to as a ring-mat ground in English and as a fish-roe pattern in Chinese. In fact, the design motifs on Song gold and silver vessels took inspiration from contemporaneous bird-and-flower paintings on paper and silk, mimicking the paintings’ refined compositions, naturalistic style, and fluid lines.

In addition to related gold cups unearthed in Inner Mongolia, the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, includes an allied gold cup (M.30-1935),[3] (Fig. 1) and J.J. Lally & Co., New York, featured a kindred gold cup in the March 2002 exhibition Chinese Porcelain and Silver in the Song Dynasty (cat. no. 11).[4] Formerly in the collection of Carl Kempe (1884–1967), a silver cup of similar form and with related lotus-blossom décor on its floor sold at Christie’s, New York, on 12 September 2019, lot 583.[5]

Gold cup with chased motifs, China, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 AD). Height: 4cm; Diameter: 7cm. Purchased with Art Fund support, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, M.30-1935. ©Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

In Song and Jin times, vessels of this shape inspired ceramic imitations in Jun ware and Yaozhou ware; whatever their function might have been at the time of manufacture, those vessels were often used as brush washers by Ming- and Qing-period literati. The most famous Jun examples include one in the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at The Asia Society, New York (1979.138) (Fig. 2), one in the Sir Herbert Ingram Collection at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University (EA1956.1326), and another in the Sir Percival David Collection now housed at the British Museum, London (PDF.67). A similarly shaped Yaozhou vessel—which has been termed a xi, or brush washer, by the museum curators—and now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, was excavated from a Jin-dynasty tomb in Beijing. A “moon white” Yaozhou vessel, also termed a xi and now in the Yaozhou Kiln Museum, Shaanxi province, was one of the thirty-six, Jin-dynasty, Yaozhou vessels in a cache recovered at Liulinzhen, Yaozhouqu, Tongchuan, Shaanxi province in April 1988.[6]

With its engaging shape, handsome design, burnished side walls, and delicately chased decoration, this exquisite gold cup ranks amongst the masterpieces of the Chinese goldsmith’s art. Noteworthy also for its distinguished provenance and lengthy record of exhibition and publication, it stands alongside the rarest treasures from the Song dynasty.


[1] Kai-yin Lo, Bright as Silver, White as Snow: Chinese White Ceramics from Late Tang to Yuan Dynasty: Examples from the Kai-yin Lo Collection (Hong Kong: Yungmingtang), 1998, (translated by Brenda W.L. Li), p. 120 .
[2] Wang Jianqi and Shao Qinglong, eds., Chengjisihan: Zhongguo gudai beifang caoyuan youmu wenhua [Genghis Khan: The Ancient Nomadic Culture of the Northern China], 1st ed. (Beijing: Beijing Chubanshe), 2004, p. 270.
[3] See: Susan Whitfield, ed., The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith (Chicago: Serindia Publications), 2004, p. 239, pl. 169. According to Victoria and Albert Museum records, this cup was originally attributed to the Tang dynasty but was re-attributed to the Yuan dynasty on 22 September 2009 by Peking University Professor Qi Dongfang, who is a specialist in Chinese gold and silver. Also see: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93536/cup-unknown/
[4] See: J.J. Lally & Co., ed., Chinese Porcelain and Silver in the Song Dynasty, March 18–April 8, 2002 (New York: J.J. Lally & Co.), 2002, no. 11.
[5] See: Christie’s, New York, ed., Masterpieces of Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 12 September 2019 (New York: Christie’s), 2019, p. 155, Lot 583.
[6] At the time of the discovery, the place was known as Liulinxiang, Yaoxian, Tongchuan, Shaanxi province.

Christie's. J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 23.03.2023