Lot 242. A small superb and finely decorated parcel-gilt-silver box and cover, Tang dynasty (618-907). Diameter 4.8 cm, Japanese wood boxes (6). Lot Sold 107,950 USD (Estimate 50,000 - 70,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo, acquired between 1960 and 1969.

Japanese Private Collection.

Sotheby's New York, 19th-20th March 2013, lot 10.

Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, 2013.

Literature: Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 2, Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1976, pl. 80.

Note: Gold and silver are eternal symbols of wealth and luxury and have been coveted in every period, but perhaps never more so than among the elites of the Tang dynasty. Gold- and silversmiths are recorded to have been active in Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Guangxi provinces, and precious metal shops selling gold and silver vessels were known to operate in the capital, Chang’an (Xi’an in Shaanxi), as well as several other affluent towns and major trading ports such as Yangzhou in Jiangsu. The wide distribution of manufacturing centers of gold and silver wares in the Tang period gave rise to a wide spectrum of styles, including small delicate boxes, such as the present example, made by the finest hands of the most skillful craftsmen of the period.

Very few silver boxes of a comparable quality have appeared at auction. Compare one decorated with mythical beasts and birds among undulating foliate scrolls, formerly in the collection of J.M.A.J. Dawson, sold in these rooms, 19th March 2024, lot 264; another with birds among floral scrolls, from the Carl Kempe Collection, first sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 42 and later at Christie's New York, 12th September 2019, lot 544; and a third decorated in parcel-gilt with a flower design, sold at Christie's New York, 20th September 2013, lot 1467.

Lot 244. A rare silver 'bird' jar, Tang dynasty, 8th-9th century. Height 7.6 cm, Japanese wood boxes (6). Lot Sold 5,080 USD (Estimate 3,000 - 5,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance:  Collection of Mrs. Dague Eliane, prior to 2003.

Note: ​​​​​​​The circular marking on one side of this vessel indicates that it likely once sported a handle. For a related handled silver cup of a very similar form, see a an example decorated with parcel-gilt flower sprays, attributed to the 8th-9th century, formerly in the collection of Dr. Paul Singer and Arthur M. Sackler, now preserved in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C., published on the Museum's website (accession no. S2012.9.2100).

Lot 245. A gold 'floral' hairpin, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Length 18.1 cm; total weight 24.77 grams, Japanese wood boxes (6). Lot Sold 44,450 USD (Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Note: Several gold hairpins of this type have been found in Southern Song dynasty tombs in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, including two pairs identical to the present, and a closely related set in which the two rods are connected by a shared 'floral' U-shaped finial and signed Wang zuo gongfu (made by Master Wang), all in the collection of the Zhenjiang Museum and illustrated in Zhenjiang chutu jinyinqi [Gold and silver wares unearthed in Zhenjiang], Beijing, 2012, pls 112 and 125. See also a gold hairpin of the same type as the present in the collection of the Pengzhou City Museum published in Sichuan Pengzhou Songdai jinyinqi jiaocang [Song dynasty gold and silver works stored in Pengzhou city], Sichuan province, Beijing, 2003, col. pl. 7.1; and another exhibited in Jin yao fenghua: Mengdiexuan cang Zhongguo gudai jinshi / Radiant Legacy: Ancient Chinese Gold from the Mengdiexuan Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2013, p. 23.

Lot 243. A silver 'makara' pendant, Song-Yuan dynasty (960-1368). Height 7.3 cm, Japanese wood boxes (6). Lot Sold 10,160 USD (Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Note: The form of this pendant and the workmanship of its metal sides bear a strong correlation to a gold openwork 'duck and lotus' pendant excavated from a tomb in Wu County, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Zhou Fan and Kao Cunming, Zhongguo lidai funü zhuangshi [Decorative Clothing and Accessories of Chinese Women throughout History], Hong Kong, 1988, pl. 398. The style of the makaras, themselves, also closely resemble the makara designs woven into a 13th century lampa textile in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, included in the exhibition The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, cat. no. 41.