Pair of Silver Scissors, Tang dynasty, 618 - 907. Length: 14.9cm. ESKENAZI 2024

Parcel-gilt Shell-shaped Silver Box, Tang dynasty, 7th - 8th century. Width: 3.7cm. ESKENAZI 2024

Silver Stem-cup, Tang dynasty, 7th - 8th century. Height: 5.5cm Diameter: 4.5cm. ESKENAZI 2024

This elegant silver stem cup is chased with the design of a floral scroll bearing upright blooms. This contrasts with the fine ring-matted ground, produced by working the surface with a tool with a circular tip.

Parcel-gilt Silver Box and Cover, Tang dynasty, 7th - 8th century. Height: 8.0cm. ESKENAZI 2024

This very rare parcel-gilt silver box has eight lobes around the sides copying the shape of a melon and each lobe is decorated with grape scrolls and small birds. Seated at the top of this, acting as the knop of the cover, is a small squirrel proffering a bunch of grapes. Grapes had already been introduced to China during the earlier Han dynasty, but it was only during the Tang period when there was expansion of the empire westwards that grapes and grape wine became well known. The fruit became a popular decorative motif, used on mirrors and other metalwork.

Gilt Silver Bowl and Cover, Tang dynasty, late 8th - early 9th century. Diameter of bowl: 24.3cm Diameter of cover: 24.9cm Weight: 1246g. ESKENAZI 2024

This is one of a very small group of around fifteen or sixteen closely related bowls and covers, most of which are now in museum collections around the world. Many of these bowls are believed to have been discovered in Balin, near Mongolia at the beginning of the twentieth century. This bowl was formerly in the collection of the well-known Swedish collector, Martin Månsson (1880-1952). He apparently acquired it directly from Swedish collector and engineer, Orvar Karlbeck (1879-1967). Karlbeck worked in China as a railroad engineer and in the 1920s was commissioned by the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities to collect objects for them. He founded the Karlbeck Syndicate, a group of collectors, dealers and museums – who provided financial backing and for whom he made several collecting trips. The objects, including this magnificent bowl, were recorded in two volumes of Karlbeck-Konsortiet.