A rhinoceros horn 'Traveling Scholar' libation cup. Qing dynasty, Kangxi period.  Photo Sotheby"s

finely carved around the sides with a scene of a scholar seated beneath a barren tree, gazing out into the distance as his attendant approaches with his qin, a large undercut pine tree with its branches reaching over into the interior forming the handle, its trunk wrapped in hanging vines, the background carved to resemble a craggy cliff face, the horn of a honey tone round the rim, darkening to brown at the base of the cup. Length 7 1/2 in., 19 cm. Estimate 150,000-200,000 USD

NOTE: The present lot closely resembles a cup from the Edward & Franklin Chow Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2011, lot 2717, especially in the treatment of the pine tree, rocks and the leaves of the other trees. It is likely that both are by the same hand. 

Compare also a cup from the collection of Kenyon V. Painter, Cleveland, carved with pine, paulownia and flowering trees scattered across mountain cliffs and high rocks, sold in our New York rooms, 19th March 2007, lot 380; and another, from the Estate of Nils Nessim, Stockholm, sold at Christie's New York, 25th March 2010, lot 819, depicting trees amidst rock formations. A third cup carved in high relief with a tree-strewn landscape, the handle formed by the stout branches of a pine tree, sold at Christie's Paris, 15th June 2005, lot 231, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1707.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 20 Mar 2012 www.sotheby's.com