A rare striated grey jade 'chilong' cup, Ming Dynasty. Photo: Bonhams.

The smooth grey stone attractively streaked and unusually finely formed as a deep cup raised on a slightly spreading low foot and incised with a key-fret band beneath the rim, each handle formed as a chi dragon biting the rim and grasping it with two front paws, each with the body curving to the left side and ending in a fine bifurcated tail matched by an exceptionally elegant long crest sweeping down the body to end in a tight scroll to the right side. 13.3cm (5 1/4in) wide. Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 (€24,000 - 37,000)

Provenance: Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, no.21765
An English private collection

Similar examples of cups with chilong handles biting the rim can be found in the Qingbai porcelain wares of the Southern Song dynasty, and the comparison as one material as a point of reference for the other was noted in the catalogue to the exhibition organised by the Oriental Ceramic Society, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, London, 1975, pp.96 and 100, no.326. Two examples of similar Qingbai porcelain cups are illustrated by S.Pierson (ed.), Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, nos.41 and 42, where the author notes that it appears that production of both jade and porcelain versions was concurrent, and that further research would be required to determine which came first, or if both had an earlier, as yet unidentified, common root.

There are a number of similar chilong jade cups in important museum collections throughout the world, most notably in the Palace Museum, Beijing: see for example the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 7: Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, nos.118, 119, 123, 124, 126 and 139. The cup exhibited as no.326 in the exhibition Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, op.cit., was lent by the Musée Guimet, no.MR 204-585. It is also interesting to note that a related cup found favour in the Islamic world and was gifted by Shah Abbas I to the Ardebil Shrine in 1611; it is illustrated by S.Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London 1968, pl.80B.

However the present lot is particularly rare for the exceptional quality of its carving, with the arching bodies very smoothly rounded and the long crests finely edged with incised borders, all providing an overwhelming sense of tautly compressed energy flowing around the cup. The present lot can also be distinguished from many cups of similar form since it is carved from a pale grey stone, with delicate darker striations contributing to its scholarly appeal, rather than the more usual green jade.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, London, New Bond Street, 15 May 2014 -http://www.bonhams.com/