Lot 9809. An exquisite parcel-gilt silver 'squirrel and grape' melon-form box and cover, Tang dynasty, 7th - 8th century; h. 8 cm. Lot Sold 4,096,000 HKD (Estimate 1,500,000 - 3,000,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2026
 

the base incised through the gilding with a character that may plausibly be read as bing (并)
 

Provenance: Walter Hochstadter (1914-2007), New York and Adelaide, acquired in Shanghai in the 1950s.
Christie's New York, 19th March 2009, lot 528.
Eskenazi Limited, London.

Exhibited: Eskenazi Limited at the Ukrainian Institute, New York, 2011.
Early Chinese Metalwork in Gold and Silver; Works of Art of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Eskenazi Limited, New York, 2011, cat. no. 7.
Tang: Ceramics, Metalwork and Sculpture, Eskenazi Limited, New York, 2021, cat. no. 29.

Literature: Giuseppe Eskenazi in collaboration with Hajni Elias, A Dealer’s Hand. The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012; Chinese edition, Shanghai, 2015, reprint, 2017, fig. 439.

Note: Exquisitely crafted, this charming parcel-gilt silver box is distinguished by its sumptuous decoration and a squirrel-form finial, captured in a lively posture as it proffers a cluster of grapes—a motif rarely seen in contemporary works. Masterfully cast with eight pronounced lobes, each side is superbly worked in repoussé to depict a vibrant, continuous scroll of leafy vines bearing with clusters of grapes and interspersed with small, naturalistic birds.

While grapes and grapevines were - albeit rather exotic – not uncommon in the repertoire of Tang dynasty silver vessels and mirrors, they were more frequently depicted with lions rather than the squirrel as seen on the current box and cover. The enduring appeal of the grape motif traces a fascinating trajectory in Chinese art, evolving from an exotic emblem of Tang cosmopolitanism into a profoundly auspicious symbol in later dynasties.

Although grapes and grape wine were probably known in China during the Han dynasty, they only gained popularity in the Tang dynasty, particularly among the elite. With the Tang dynasty’s westward expansion along the Silk Road—beginning in the 7th century with the conquest of Gaochang along the northern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in the 7th century, which facilitated Central Asian cultural exchange—tributes of grapes, raisins, and wine would’ve been brought directly to the Tang court.

Beyond its exotic appeal in the Tang dynasty, the squirrel-and-grape motif (songshu putao) became highly popular in later periods as an auspicious motif symbolising fertility, abundance, and family prosperity in later dynasties.

See a similar example sold in our London rooms, 27th November 1973, lot 30, and illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, p. 105, fig. 25, and a slightly smaller related example, cast with a ‘toad’ finial, preserved in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., acc. no. F1930.39a-b (fig. 1).

For two very similar examples but lacking a finial, see one sold in our London rooms, 10th June 1986, lot 33, and another published in Maurizio Scarpari, Ancient China: Chinese Civilization from the Origins to the Tang Dynasty, Vercelli, 2000, p. 203.