Footnotes

十七/十八世紀 犀角雕杏林春燕杯

Provenance:
An important European private collection

來源：
重要歐洲私人收藏

Apricot blossoms symbolise the Apricot Grove: the Tang dynasty Imperial garden where the banquet for successful candidates of the Palace examinations was held. Swallows symbolise Spring when the banquet was held, and the character itself is also a pun for 'banquet' or yan (宴). Apricot blossoms or xinghua (杏花) and swallows or yan (燕) form the saying 'may you attend the spring banquet in the Apricot Grove' or xinglin chunyan (杏林春燕), which conveys the auspicious meaning of 'wishing a candidate success in the Imperial examination'.

Related rhinoceros horn libation cups utilising the full horn, with a primary flower or leaf borne on gnarled flowering branches, can be seen in a number of variations: see a mallow-shaped libation cup, early Ming dynasty, from the Qing Court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, pl.109; for a cup carved with nandina and narcissus, in the Chester Beatty Library, and another carved with lotus leaf and water plants, in Snowshill Manor, Worcester, see J.Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pls.198 and 210; and see a cup with lotus and chi-dragon, in the Arthur M. Sackler collection, and two others of lotus form, illustrated by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pls.92, 95 and 96.

Compare a related larger rhinoceros horn 'cranes' libation cup, 18th century, which was sold in our London rooms, 6 November 2014, lot 416; and see also another related example of a rhinoceros horn 'lotus' libation cup, 17th century, which was sold at Christie's Paris, 14 December 2011, lot 206.

器身以整枚犀角雕成，杯口雕作花頭，螺旋式花瓣，杯底透雕杏花枝，曲折通幽，杏花出橙，越上杯口，爭相開放，杯口下雕一隻小燕，寓意「杏林春宴」，一片春日美景。

明代以降，工匠開始以整枚犀角隨形透雕成杯，多見以蓮花、玉蘭、荷葉等為主題製成各種文玩，大多風格古雅、工藝精湛。見北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件明早期犀角雕折枝葵花形杯，《故宮博物院珍藏文物珍品全集：竹木牙角雕刻》，香港，2002年，頁120，圖109；另見一犀角雕水仙花形杯，以及另一荷葉形杯，著錄於J.Chapman，《The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China》，倫敦，1999年，圖198及210。與本品形制類似之犀角杯以及其他兩件荷葉杯，見塞克樂舊藏，著錄於霍滿堂，《中國犀角雕刻珍賞》，香港，1999年，圖92，95及96。

倫敦邦瀚斯曾售出一件十八世紀犀角雕仙鶴杯可資比較，2014年11月6日，拍品416；另見巴黎佳士得售出一件十七世紀犀角雕荷葉杯，2011年12月14日，拍品206。