RARE POTTERY BEAKER
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY
£1,890
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art
Auction: 3 November 2023 from 09:00 GMT
Description
西漢 弦紋陶杯
of tapering cylindrical form supported on a pedestal foot, two incised bands decorating the upper part of the body
Dimensions
18.7cm high
Provenance
Provenance: Blitz Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, 25 Nov 2013, with a photocopied receipt.
Dr. Kenneth P. Lawley's inventory number: Cer.155.
Footnote
Note: Pottery beakers of this form are after examples made of precious materials, such as jade, lacquer or precious metals. Two smaller polychrome pottery goblets, Western Han dynasty, of comparable form and with decoration mimicking vessels made of more precious materials such as lacquer or bronze, are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. 1994.605.34.
Stem cups of this form made of precious materials, such as jade, during the Western Han dynasty, were items of the highest prestige produced for the imperial house, local royalty and a privileged elite connected to these courts. Several jade beakers of this type during this period, have been discovered at some of the period’s most important residential and burial sites, and were in tombs placed in prominent positions. Observes Regina Krahl, in 'Vermillion Birds for Immortality', catalogue note for an extremely rare and important jade 'twin bird' stem cup, Western Han dynasty, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2020, lot 16. Despite the elaborate decoration, another related important and very rare early carved greyish-green jade beaker with gold and silver-decorated bronze mount, Western Han dynasty, note the similarity in shape, is illustrated in Giuseppe Eskenazi, 2012, A Dealer's Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe, London: Scala Publishers Ltd, pl. 155, and sold at Christie's New York, 19 Sep 2006, lot 175.
Excavated lacquered stem cups or beakers are rare. [1] Compare to a related pair of gold foil-embellished and painted-lacquer goblets with gold-inlaid bronze mounts, previously in Sir Joseph Hotong's collection, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 Oct 2022, lot 168; For bronze examples, one Eastern Han dynasty, see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. SL.1.2017.17.8, one Warring States period, sold at Sotheby's New York, 17 September 2013, lot 9, and one Western Han dynasty, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28 July 2022, lot 3037. There are three grey gritty pottery cups, dated to the Warring States period, with comparable texture, colour and seemingly the quality of this lot, in the Heyuan Museum.
[1] Hong Shi, 2020, 'Xihan yinjiuju yanjiu: yi qiqi wei zhongxin (shang)', Palace Museum Journal, 224(12), pg. 68-69.
Please note this lot will be offered with no reserve. 本拍品不設底價