Lot175. A carved rhinoceros horn libation cup, Qing Dynasty, 17th-18th Century. Estimate 7,000 — 9,000 USD. Lot sold 22,800 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the tapered cup finely carved on the exterior with a scholar seated on a rock beneath a tree next to a flowing stream, his attendant appearing from behind another tree carrying a ruyi sceptre, all beneath wispy clouds and a flying crane at the rim, the handle formed by the trunks of two trees growing from a rocky cliff and overhanging into the interior, the horn of a warm amber tone (zitan stand); length 5 in., 12.7 cm.

Note: The treatment of the horn is similar to one in the Thomas Fok Collection , illustrated in Thomas Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, 1999, no. 154, where treatment of the trees and the clouds along the rim are quite similar.