Lot 708. A very rare gold winged cup, China, Western Han dynasty, 3rd-2nd century BC;  4 ¾ in. (12 cm.) long, box - 252 g. Estimate $150,000 - $250,000. Price Realized $725,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The deep oval cup raised on a flat foot of conforming outline, with a pair of everted flange handles of shaped outline flaring slightly upward from the rim and engraved on top with angular scrolls reserved on a ground of fine parallel lines.

Provenance: The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1989.

Note: This exceptionally rare gold 'winged' cup would likely have been a treasured vessel of an aristocrat. It is similar in shape to 'winged' cups made of painted lacquer found in mid-Warring States (4th-3rd century BC) tombs of the Chu State at Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei province, some of which are illustrated by Teng Rensheng, Lacquer Wares of the Chu Kingdom, Hong Kong, 1992, pp. 12-3, pls. 1-3 and pp. 95-7, figs. 2, 3, 5 and 6. The decoration on all of the illustrated cups is different, but the decoration on the cup illustrated as pl. 1 is the most similar to the engraved decoration on the present cup. The particular shape of these excavated cups, referred to as yubei, and the present gold cup - an oval bowl with angular projecting handles - seen as early as the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), continued during the Warring States period, but is thought to have disappeared by the Han dynasty. It was one of the prescribed shapes of lacquer vessels made during the Warring States period, along with the more common cup with rounded 'ear'-shaped handles (erbei), which did continue to be made during the Han dynasty. The lacquer cups, which were used for drinking wine or broth as well as for holding food, were painted with decoration taken from the designs of contemporary textiles, and were prominently included in tombs of the period. Like the lacquer cups, the handles of the present cup are also decorated with textile-inspired designs, but are engraved rather than painted. It is the erbei not the yubei cup that is usually found made from other materials such as bronze, glazed pottery, shell and jade. 

Although some gold vessels have been found in tombs dating to the 5th century BC, including that of the Marquis Yi of Zeng in Hubei province, no other gold cup like the present cup appears to have been found. The State of Zeng, which was also in present-day Hubei province, had close ties to the State of Chu, which owed much of its prosperity to its production of gold.

A Technical Examination Report is available upon request. 

Christie's. THE COLLECTION OF ROBERT HATFIELD ELLSWORTH PART IV - CHINESE WORKS OF ART: METALWORK, SCULPTURE AND EARLY CERAMICS, 20 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza.