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An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 1
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 2
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 3
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 4
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 5
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 6
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 7
An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries image 8
Lot 167

An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl
Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries

21 September 2020, 12:00 EDT
New York

US$200,000 - US$300,000

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An exceptional parcel gilt silver lobed bowl

Tang dynasty, 7th-8th centuries
The bowl consisting of five lobes separated by raised ridges, each lobe with an engraved and gilt floral and fruit medallion, the interior with a central medallion enclosing large blooms and fruit surrounded by feathery leaves, the everted rim engraved and gilded with a band of overlapping petals, the exterior mirroring the decoration to the interior.
8 3/16in (20.8cm) diameter

Footnotes

唐 銀局部鎏金花瓣式盌

Provenance
Japanese Private Collection, Tokyo, Japan
Christie's New York, 21 March 2002, lot 81
Deydier Christian, Oriental Bronzes Ltd., London, U.K., 2002
European Private Collection, since 2002

Exhibited
Baur Museum, Crick M., L'or de steppes, Arts somptuaires de la dynastie Liao, Baur Collection, Geneva, Switzerland, 2007

Published
Christie's New York Sale 1029, 21 March 2002, lot 81, pp.76-77
Baur Museum, Crick M., L'Or de steppes, Arts somptuaires de la dynastie Liao, Baur Collection, Geneva, Switzerland, 2007, p.41

來源
日本東京私人珍藏
紐約佳士得,2002年3月21日,拍品編號81
戴克成藝廊,英國倫敦,2002年
歐洲私人珍藏

展覽
鮑氏東方藝術館, L'or de steppes, Arts somptuaires de la dynastie Liao,瑞士日內瓦,2007年

出版
紐約佳士得圖錄,2002年3月21日,拍品編號81,頁76-77
Crick M., L'Or de steppes, Arts somptuaires de la dynastie Liao, 鮑氏東方藝術館,日內瓦,2007年, 頁41


This striking bowl is thought to be part of a group of fifteen parcel gilt platters and bowls, some of which had covers, that appeared in 1930 at antique dealers' shops in China. By repute, the silver came from three tombs uncovered at Balin, Eastern Mongolia. One such bowl and cover, obtained by Dr. Carl Kempe, was published by Bo Gyllensvard and later (see Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain: The Kempe Collection, New York, the Asia Society, 1971, no. 56, pp. 80-81 and illustrated on p.54). The Kempe bowl and cover were sold in Sotheby's London Sale, 14 May 2008, lot 64, along with other silver from the Kempe Collection.

In the 1971 Kempe collection catalog entry listed above, Dr. Gyllensvard noted that the Swedish collector Orvar Karlbeck obtained silver bowls from the Balin group of tombs that were similar to the Kempe bowl and cover. Dr. Gyllensvard also mentioned a related bowl and cover in the M. Mansson Collection, Stockholm. The Mansson bowl and cover were reputedly obtained directly from Mr. Karlbeck, between 1928 and 1930, when the set was sold in Christie's London Sale, 10 May 2011, lot 187. Other items thought to come from the same Balin tombs include a pair of bowls and covers in the Seattle Art Museum and a pair of bowls and covers in the University of Pennsylvania collection, see Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, New York, China Institute in America, 1971, no. 85, p.61) and
http://art.seattleartmuseum.org/objects/23359/covered-bowl-in-the-shape-of-fivepetaled-flower-with-flora?ctx=b1fe739f-bf8f-46b2-b9ec59448bc1d4a9&idx=5 http://art.seattleartmuseum.org/objects/23362/covered-bowl-in-the-shape-of-a-fivepetaled-flower?ctx=b1fe739f-bf8f-46b2-b9ec-59448bc1d4a9&idx=30
https://www.penn.museum/collections/object_images.php?irn=54095#image2
https://www.penn.museum/collections/object_images.php?irn=269159.

There are slight differences in the decoration on the group of Balin bowls and covers; but one small motif in common is the engraved decoration on the rim and foot ring: originally described as a 'peacock-feather garland' by Gyllensvard and Singer, but seen as a band of 'overlapping lotus petals' when the Kempe bowl and cover were catalogued in lot 64 for the Sotheby's London sale on 14 May 2008. The delicately engraved band along the rim on the bowl in this lot appears more clearly to resemble as band of overlapping flower petals, similar to the band encircling the interior rim on a parcel gilt silver leys jar, also from the Carl Kempe Collection, sold in Sotheby's London Sale on 14 May 2008, lot 73. However, a stronger thread that unites the lobed bowl in this lot and the gilt silver leys jar with the other gilt silver objects discussed is their realistic floral and vegetal decoration, sensitively outlined and highlighted in gilt against the smooth silver-gray surfaces.

The sets of parcel gilt silver bowls and covers in the Seattle Art Museum, the former Kempe Collection parcel gilt silver bowl and cover (lot 64) and the leys jar (lot 73) in the Sotheby's London sale of 14 May 2018 have been ascribed to the eighth/ninth century. A parcel-gilt silver rice bowl and cover of similar shape, engraved with peony sprays, was part of the famous hoard of metalwork excavated in 1970 at Hejiacun, Xi'an, at the site of the mansion that belonged to Li Xiu-li, prince of Bin and cousin to the emperor Xuanzong, who died in 741. It is thought that the treasure might have been buried when the emperor and the court had to leave Chang'an at the outbreak of An Lu-shan's rebellion in 756 (see The Genius of China exhibition, London, Times Newspapers, 1973, p. 137 and no. 310, p.146).

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