Lot 918. Property from a Princely Collection. A small circular gold 'tortoise' box and cover, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907); 2.9 cm diam.; weight 16.3 g. Estimate USD 12,000 – USD 18,000. Price realised USD 27,720. © Christie's Image Ltd 2023

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK41.
Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver; Sotheby's London, 14 May 2008, lot 80.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. p. 20, no. 41.
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fig. 58g.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, p. 78, pl. 39.

Exhibited: Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 173.
Washington, D. C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 41.

Note: During the Tang dynasty, small gold and silver circular boxes were used for various purposes including holding medicinal powders and beauty products. Silver boxes were far more prevalent, many of which were gilded or parcel-gilt, a less expensive alternative to the more prestigious gold. Two other rare, small gold boxes in the collection of Pierre Uldry are illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zürich, 1994, p. 170, nos. 164 and 165.

Lot 919. Property from a Princely Collection. A silver 'lotus petal' stem cup, Tang-Song dynasty, 9th-10th century; 6.8 cm high.; weight 74.7 g. Estimate USD 6,000 – USD 8,000. Price realised USD 10,710. © Christie's Image Ltd 2023

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden.
Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver; Sotheby's London, 14 May 2008, lot 55.

Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, p. 147, pl. 106.

Note: Tang and Song silver vessels decorated around the sides in repoussé with overlapping petals appear to be rare. Two rows of overlapping repoussé lotus petals can be seen on the sides of a pair of parcel-gilt silver bowls, each raised on a lotus leaf-shaped pedestal foot, of Tang-dynasty date, excavated in 1987 from the Famen Monastery Pagoda, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, and illustrated by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 350, pl. 669. The sides of a silver bowl in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Myron S. Falk, Jr., illustrated by Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China House Gallery, New York, 1971-1972, where it is dated Song dynasty, are worked in repoussé with overlapping chrysanthemum petals. Remains of solder on the bottom suggest the Falk bowl once had a stem foot.

Lot 920. Property from a Princely Collection. A small finely engraved silver stem cup, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907); 5.1 cm high.; weight 36.4 g. Estimate USD 25,000 – USD 35,000. Unsold. © Christie's Image Ltd 2023

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK102.
Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver; Sotheby's London, 14 May 2008, lot 47.

Literature: B. Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. p. 32, no. 102.
B. Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, No. 29, 1957, figs. 55a, 75c, 86b, 87f.
Han Wei, Hai nei wai Tangdai jin yin qi cui bian, (Tang Gold and Silver in Chinese and overseas collections), Xi’an, 1989, pl. 44.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, p. 145, pl. 104.

Note: Cups of this goblet shape were popular during the Tang dynasty, and are found with varying decorations, often a scrolling foliate pattern, and more rarely a scrolling grapevine such as that seen on the present cup. A stem cup with this decoration is illustrated in Sui to no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Art Museum, 1976, p. 32, no. 2-23. It can also be seen on two bottle-shaped silver vases of Tang date, illustrated by Clarence W. Kelley, Chinese Gold & Silver in American Collections, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, 1984, no. 49, dated early 8th century, and no. 50, dated late 8th-9th century. On both of these, birds and animals are interspersed amidst the grape vine. A cup of this form decorated with scrolling grape vines was unearthed from the reliquary chamber of the pagoda at the Qingshan Temple in Lindongxian, Shaanxi province. The construction of the temple was begun in AD 736, and in AD 740 the reliquary was placed in the subterranean chamber of the pagoda along with other objects of gold, silver, bronze and ceramic.

Lot 921. Property from a Prestigious Private Collection. A rare small silver bird-form box and cover, Liao-Song dynasty, 10th-13th century; 8.9 cm wide. Estimate USD 10,000 – USD 15,000. Price realised USD 8,820. © Christie's Image Ltd 2023

Provenance: J. T. Tai & Co., New York, 31 July 1965.
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections, New York.
Acquired from the above in 2000.

Note: Paired birds, particularly ducks, was a popular subject in the decorative arts of the Tang and Song dynasties and can be seen on ceramics, silver and textiles. It is rare, however, for their necks of the ducks to be entwined, as seen on the cover of the present box. A similar depiction of ducks with entwined necks can be found carved on the cover of a Yue celadon box from the collection of Robert E. Barron III, M.D, sold at Christie’s New York, 30 March 2005, lot 265. See, also a Yue celadon 'mandarin ducks' box and cover with entwined birds on the finely molded cover sold in The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: The Linyushanren Collection, Part II: Christie's New York, 15 September 2016, lot 701.

Lot 922. Property from a Princely Collection. A rare silver ewer and cover, Song-Yuan dynasty (AD 960-1368); 12.2 cm high.; weight 192 g; fitted leather box. Estimate USD 12,000 – USD 18,000. Price realised USD 12,600. © Christie's Image Ltd 2023

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK137.
Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver; Sotheby's London, 14 May 2008, lot 108.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. p. 42, no. 137.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, p. 187, pl. 139.

Exhibited: Washington, D. C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 137.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 21 sept. 11:30AM & 22 sept. 9AM EDT