Property of a Bay Area Lady
A fine and rare rhinoceros horn libation vessel of ding shape
17th/18th Century
Raised on three elephant-head supports with extended trunks forming the base and paired tusks curving around each shaped trunk set off by a writhing split-tailed qilong and young cavorting under the base of the vessel, the main body band superbly carved in low relief with four bands of opposed split-tailed gui dragons on a ground of small chevrons bisected by a vertical leiwen ground under a flared rim accented by paired u-shaped handles framed by a elegant leiwen band, conforming zitan cover carved with bands of leiwen and surmounted by a nephrite finialin the form of a serpent (minor worn chips to ridge of serpents back and claws).
Height 5 3/4in (14.7cm)
Raised on three elephant-head supports with extended trunks forming the base and paired tusks curving around each shaped trunk set off by a writhing split-tailed qilong and young cavorting under the base of the vessel, the main body band superbly carved in low relief with four bands of opposed split-tailed gui dragons on a ground of small chevrons bisected by a vertical leiwen ground under a flared rim accented by paired u-shaped handles framed by a elegant leiwen band, conforming zitan cover carved with bands of leiwen and surmounted by a nephrite finialin the form of a serpent (minor worn chips to ridge of serpents back and claws).
Height 5 3/4in (14.7cm)
Sold for
US$ 832,250
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance: by repute, ex Charles W. Pratt collection
Note: for related but smaller examples of this liding type, see the George and Mary Bloch collection ding by Hu Xingyue, Qianlong Period, sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October, 2005, lot 114; a larger 18th century ding type in the Shanghai Museum, published in Fok, Thomas, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China (Hong Kong, Tai Yip, 1999), Plate 1; a smaller ding from the Chester Beatty Library by Hu Shisheng, and the Harvard Sackler ding by Sheng Fugong, illustrated as plates 42 and 150 in Chapman, Jan, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China (London, Christie's Books Ltd., 1999), and the Harvard example also in Fok, op.cit, Plate 34. Aside from the lot currently offered, the only other apparent known published example, a ding type cup with serpents cavorting under the legs of the vessel, is found in the Durham University Oriental Museum, published in Chapman, op. cit., plate 193, ding D15.
Category: Asian Art
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