Lot 3. A small Ordos openwork gold plaque, 6th-4th century BC, 2.9cm., 1 1/8 in. Estimate 1,500 — 2,000 GBP. Lot sold 14,900 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

cast in openwork and low relief in the form of a stylised coiled beast, the animal's front and hind quarters with short bent legs tucked underneath its curled body, the head defined by two large eyes and ears, all enclosed by a band of grooves, the reverse hollow and with two small loops for attachment, Weight 7g.; together with a small Ordos gold fitting in the form of a recumbent stag. Quantity: 2. 

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. nos. 23, 26.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 23, pl. 26.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 22, pl. 25. 

Lot 4. A fragment of an openwork gold plaque, 6th-4th century BC, 4.6cm., 1 7/8 in. Estimate 1,000 — 1,500 GBP. Lot sold 11,875 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

cast with a profile rendering of two animals coiled around each other into a circle, their legs tucked into the centre, the plaque encircled by joined bird heads with long beaks and pronounced eyes, the reverse with two rounded loops for attachment,  Weight 15g.; together with a small circular gold fitting decorated with stylised palmettes. Quantity: 2. 

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. nos. 22, 34.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pls. 22, 34.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pls. 21, 32. 

Note: Compare related examples cast in bronze and excavated from a number of Ordos sites in Inner Mongolia, illustrated in Erduosi shi qingtong qi, Beijing, 1986, p. 120, fig. 86:6-9 and pl. 81:5-7.

Lot 5. An Ordos openwork gold-sheet fitting, Eastern Zhou (770 BC-221 BC), 7cm., 2 3/4 in. Estimate 500 — 700 GBP. Lot sold 3,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the thin gold sheet cut into a rectangular form and partly embellished in openwork with a pair of confronting deer flanking a central column composed of three wheels stacked on top of each other, some parts of the openwork design rendered in repousse, glass frame. Weight 5g.

Exhibited: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 31.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 31.

Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 29. 

Note: This unusual fitting is comparable to a number of similarly shaped cast gold and bronze plaques associated with Ordos sites excavated in Inner Mongolia and Siberia and ranging in date from tthe Warring States period to the Western Han dynasty, illustrated in Erduosi shi qingtong qi, Beijing, 1986, p. 79, fig. 46:1 and 2, pl. 60:1. They commonly depict confronting pairs of stags, rams, camels and ox, reflecting the iconographic repertoire and style of the nomadic and pastural cultures along the present-day northern Chinese frontiers, ibid., pp. 76-80, figs. 44-47. Another example cast in gold but dated to the Eastern Han is illustrated in Simon Kwan and Sun Ji, Chinese Gold Ornaments, Hong Kong, 2003, cat. no. 128.

Lot 6. A rare Ordos turquoise-inlaid gold ram fitting, Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC), 4.3cm, 1 5/8 in. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 GBP. Lot sold 26,900 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

realistically cast with a front leg curled under the body and the outer hind leg bent up to its nose as if scratching, the head raised high and surmounted by a fine pair of curled horns, traces of turquoise inlay, two pins on the reverse for attachment. Weight 60g.

Exhibited: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 21.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 21.

Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 16. 

Note: Four cast gold fittings of almost identical shape and size were discovered at Fengxiang county in Shaanxi province. Datable to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, they are thought to be harness or chariot fittings, see Zhongguo meishui quanji. Gongyi meishu bian, vol. 10, Beijing, 1987, pls. 4 and 5.

Lot 7. A fine gold buckle, 4th-2nd century BC, 3.6cm., 1 3/8 in. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 GBP. Lot sold 26,900 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

of hemispherical shape and heavily cast with a design in relief of three sharp-clawed dragons, their sinuous bodies interlocking and curled around a central boss, the reverse with three loops for attachment. Weight 49g.

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 11.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 11.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 11. 

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008

Lot 8. A circular gold ornament, Six Dynasties (220 or 222–589) or earlier, 2.9cm., 1 1/8 in. Estimate 500 — 700 GBP. Lot sold 688 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

shaped like a flat ring and decorated on one side with an overall irregular ring-matted pattern, the reverse undecorated. Weight 4g.

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 10.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 10.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 9. 

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008

Lot 9. An Ordos circular gold fitting, 6th-4th century BC, 3cm., 1 1/8 in. Estimate 500 — 700 GBP. Lot sold 750 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

cast as a conical disc and decorated on one side in raised relief with four animal heads with large eyes and ears, all encircled by a border of striations. Weight 12g.

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 27.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 27.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 26. 

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008

Lot 10. A pair of small Ordos gold fittings, 6th-4th century BC, 2.6cm., 1in. Estimate 1,000 — 1,500 GBP. Lot sold 6,250 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

each worked from gold sheet as a tiger mask with bulging eyes, pointed ears and striated mane with a small hole at the centre for attachment. Quantity: 2. Weight 2.5g.

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 30.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 30.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 28. 

Note: See a number of related small gold and silver tiger-mask fittings unearthed from Ordos sites in Inner Mongolia, illustrated in Erduosi shi qingtong qi, Beijing 1986, pl. 115:1-5.

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008

Lot 11. A small Ordos gold buckle, 6th-4th century BC, 2.7cm., 1 in. Estimate 1,800 — 2,500 GBP. Lot sold 6,875 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

cast with a lobed outline formed by six stylised bird heads with prominently raised eyes, their long curved beaks turned inwards toward the centre of the design, a square loop for attachment to the reverse. Weight 23g.

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 29.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 29.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 27. 

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008

Greek, Attic attributed to the Berlin Painter, Greek, Attic, fl. ca. 500-ca. 460 B.C., Red-figure Amphora of Type A: A, Athena (pictured), B, Herakles, ca. 500–490 B.C., Ceramic, 26 9/16 × 31 1/8 × 16 7/8 × 12 13/16 × 9 5/8 inches. Courtesy Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

Greek, Attic, attributed to the Berlin Painter, Greek, Attic, fl. ca. 500-ca. 460 B.C.Red-figure volute-krater: A, Achilles and Hektor, B, Achilles and Memnon, ca. 490 B.C., Ceramic, 25 1/8 × 18 9/16 × 9 5/16 inches. Courtesy The British Museum

Greek, Attic, attributed to the Berlin Painter, Greek, Attic, fl. ca. 500-ca. 460 B.C., Red-figure Stamnos: A, Athena between Zeus and Hera (pictured), B, Departing Warrior between Woman and Seated Old Man, ca 490 -480 B.C., Ceramic, 13 9/16 × 9 1/16 inches. Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Greek, Attic, attributed to the Berlin Painter, Greek, Attic, fl. ca. 500-ca. 460 B.C., Red-figure Neck -amphora with Twisted Handles: A, Dionysos with Thyrsos, Kanthanros and Lion, B, Satyr Carrying a Wineskin (pictured), ca. 480. B.C., Ceramic, 19 11/16 inches. Courtesy Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek München

Greek, Attic, attributed to the Berlin Painter, Greek, Attic, fl. ca. 500-ca. 460 B.C., Red-figure Neck -amphora with Tidged Handles: Amazonmachy with Herkales, ca 485-480 B.C., Ceramic, 21 5/8 × 11 7/8 × 7 1/2 × 6 9/16 inches. Courtesy Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig.

Greek, Attic, attributed to the Berlin Painter, Greek, Attic, fl. ca. 500-ca. 460 B.C., Black-figure Panathenaic Prize Amphora: A, Athena between Columns Topped by Cocks, B, Runners (pictured), ca. 480–470 B.C., Ceramic, 24 1/2 × 16 1/2 × 7 5/16 × 5 1/2 inches. Courtesy Collection of Gregory Callimanopulos, New York.

William M. Frej, Bayon, Cambodia, 2016, 40" x 60". Framed: 41" x 61". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

SANTA FE, NM.- Peyton Wright Gallery is presenting Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms, an exhibition highlighting Mayan and Khmer kingdoms through an extraordinary marriage of pre-Colombian and Asian artifacts and luminous black and white images of forgotten Mayan and Khmer ruins captured by photographer William Frej. 

“Look this way” is the soul’s summons to wonder. Every child knows the call. It is the insistent whispering voice of curiosity within that leads us, ultimately, to care about all that is mystery. From the periphery of our mind’s eye, through the haze of everyday distraction, we catch glimpses of the tantalizing unknown. For some, these fragmentary sightings of the possible ignite an unquenchable desire to know. Their search begins in an instant, and may last a lifetime. 

William M. Frej, , 2017, 20" x 30". Framed: 21" x 31". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

Time lays a blurring tint over fact. What is known slips from mind to become the past falling into rank with the rest of rumor we recite as history. The recipe for concrete, one of man’s most durable and serviceable discoveries, forgotten, though the Roman aqueducts stand in evidence of its durable reality. Sometimes things are lost until mankind’s relentless search for reason sweeps back and restores the fact of past truths with rediscovery of ancient culture. We find sites filled with articles that demonstrate the ancients’ fascination with ritual, beliefs, and the arcana of daily life. Sites that lay hidden until lit by the accidental turn of a spade. Even then, meaning, the realm of understanding created and inhabited by the original believers, along with what they felt and were animated by, remains obscured under time’s forgetful sediment. 

Still, through all of history, the common thread of wonder, expressed in reverence for objects, persists. Evidence of ancient fascination with surprise and beauty, the effort to reproduce the stars as jewelry, the night sky as diaphanous cloth, are here on display in the gallery. Elements of the magnificent assembled as city-scale monuments to the power of deities demanding worship surrounds us in the art of daily articles, furnishings, objects of worship, wardrobe and adornment that that are the fundamental landscape of this show. Here we have assembled a trove of object and image that invite you to speculate, admire, and rejoice in the primal human fascination with mystery as you stroll the rooms.

William M. Frej, Bayon, Cambodia, 2016, 40" x 60". Framed: 41" x 61". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

Bill Frej, the renowned photographer, began following that flicker of something he saw in the corner of his eye when he first ventured into the Yucatan in 1971. As a student of architecture and photography he became entranced with the mystery embodied by the ancient monumental structures hidden deep in Mesoamerica’s jungle vastness. He had so many questions. Who were these people? What was the dimension of their society, their beliefs, their own sense of purpose? Such depth to the unknown. 

But before they could begin to be answered, life intervened. And took him to Asia where he worked and wandered absorbing the river of culture that flows endlessly across millennia of accreted memory over vast plains, mountains, and river deltas. Asia, where he and his wife spent 430 days on foot traversing the Himalaya following a mutual desire to connect spirit and purpose.

William M. Frej, Palenque Palace, Guatemala, 2017, 20" x 30". Framed: 21" x 31". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

Forty years on he returned to the cradle of his inspiration. There he spent three years penetrating remote jungles and the forgetful gauze of experience to document the wonders of ancient Mayan development in the Yucatan, Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Campeche obscured and consumed by the careless evolution of the Lacandon and Peten jungles. 

Ultimately the impulse to follow the renewed scent of mystery led him to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, where he stood beneath the massive sculpted ramparts of a citadel to ancient worship, and recognized he had come full circle. There, surrounded by exquisite, carved testimonials to the passion inspired by devotion, he understood the stark similarities between the ancient impulse to worship, know, and be dazzled by mystery in the jungles of Cambodia, and its direct and deep human connection to the remnants of that same universal impulse he had witnessed as a young man wandering among the impenetrable forest canopies of deep, ancient Mexico. 

William M. Frej, Bayon, Cambodia, 2016, 30" x 45". Framed: 31" x 46". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

Capturing the essence of that sense of mystery, striving to create a visual portal through which the rest of us can step into the presence of that state of suspended disbelief he experienced in two centers of ancient culture separated by oceans of space time and meaning is what Bill’s photos do. 

At a scale we can understand, in a language of image we cannot escape the depth of, Bill’s extraordinary black and white works summon us in the ancient manner to: “Look this way”, and wonder. 

As in last year’s exhibit, “The Maya”, we invite you to take a leisurely wander through the gallery. It will reveal the intimate relationship between Bill’s stunning images and the collection of ancient art and cultural objects, ceramic, textile, wood and stone, etc., that are the body of art produced by these and related ethnic cultures.

William M. Frej, Tikal Altar, Guatemala, 2017, 30" x 45". Framed: 31" x 46". Photography, Archival Ink Jet Print printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper. 

William M. Frej, Prasat Prang, Northwest Cambodia, 2016, 20" x 30". Framed: 21" x 31". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico, 2017, 40" x 60". Framed: 41" x 61". Photography, Archival Chromogenic Silver Halide Print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Bakong, Brasat Bakong District, Cambodia, 2016, 30" x 45". Framed: 31" x 46". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Chunyaxnic, Campeche, Mexico, 2017, 20" x 30". Framed: 21" x 31". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Bakong, Prasat Yeai Poeun, Cambodia, 2016, 30" x 45". Framed: 31" x 46". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Mayapan, Temple of Kukulkan, Yucatan, Mexico, 2017, 20" x 30". Framed: 21" x 31". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 2016, 40" x 60". Framed: 41" x 61". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, 2016, 20.75" x 13.75". Framed: 28.25" x 22.25". Photography, Archival Ink Jet Print printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 2016, 40" x 60". Framed: 41" x 61". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

William M. Frej, Tikal Temple V, Guatemala, 2016, 40" x 60". Framed: 41" x 61". Photography, archival chromogenic silver halide print. Signed, titled and dated verso lower left.

Lot 1514. A bronze ritual tripod wine vessel, jue, Shang dynasty, 12th century BC, 7 5/8 in. (19.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. Price realised USD 194,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Raised on three blade-shaped supports, the sides cast in relief with twoleiwen-filled taotie masks reserved on a leiwen band and separated by narrow notched flanges, one mask centered on a flange, the other on the graph cast beneath the handle that issues from a bovine mask, below triangular blades filled with cicadas, and two larger scroll-filled blades beneath the spout and tail, the pair of posts that rise from the rim with conical caps cast with whorl motifs, with milky green patina and extensive malachite encrustation, inscribed zitan box with interior inscription by Zoroku.

Provenance: Private collection, Japan, acquired in the late 19th/early 20th century. 

Note: The graph cast under the handle, Zi, may be translated as 'son,' but may also represent the surname of the Shang royal family.

Lot 1515. A rare bronze tripod ritual wine vessel, jiao, Late Shang dynasty, 11th century BC, 6 5/8 in. (16.7 cm.) high. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. Price realised USD 110,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Raised on three tall curved blade-form legs, the body cast in relief with two taotie masks, one divided by the loop handle, the other divided by a narrow vertical flange, all beneath a band of upright blades at the flared mouth, with an inscription cast on the interior at one side, with greenish patina and some malachite encrustation, stand, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Private collection, Japan, acquired in the 1920s. 

Lot 1516. A bronze tripod ritual wine vessel, jia, Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC, 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 70,000 - USD 90,000. Price realised USD 182,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Raised on three slightly curved blade-form supports, the S-curved body cast with a band of elongated taotie masks centered on narrow flanges below a band of upright scroll-filled blades repeated on the sides of the waisted posts that rise from the rim, the tops of the posts with a whorl motif, with a three-character inscription cast in the base of the interior, with malachite encrustation and milky-green patina, zitan stand, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Private collection, Japan, acquired in the late 19th/early 20th century. 

Lot 1517. A bronze ritual tripod food vessel, liding, Late Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC, 7¾ in. (19.7 cm.) high. Estimate USD 200,000 - USD 300,000. Price realised USD 626,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Raised on three columnar supports, the body lobed above each leg and cast in relief with three taotie masks centered on a flange and reserved on a leiwen ground, below a narrow band of cicadas also on a leiwen ground and arranged in threes confronted on shorter flanges, with a pair of bail handles rising from the rim, with mottled olive-brown and milky green patina, wood stand, Japanese wood box inscribed by Zoroku.

Provenance: Private collection, Japan, acquired in the late 19th/early 20th century. 

Note: A bronze liding with a similar frieze of cicadas below the rim and related taotie masks cast in relief on the sides is illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1987, pp. 484-5, where it is dated 12th-11th century BC. See, also, the liding with similar taotie masks cast in relief, but with a freize of stylized dragons in profile below the rim, illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 216-9, no. 24. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Part I), 22 - 23 March 2012, New York 

Lot 1518. A rare bronze ritual food vessel, yu, Late Shang Dynasty, 12th-11th Century BC, 9½ in. (24 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. Price realised USD 326,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

With deep rounded sides flaring very slightly towards the flat everted rim, finely flat-cast with a band of three taotie masks with convex pupils flanked by pairs of addorsed birds with backward-turned heads and curled tails, all reserved on a leiwen ground, raised on a slightly flared foot cast with six 'eyes' that center scroll-filled, tapering diagonals, and are positioned below the taotie masks in the upper band and the vertical mold join lines, with a golden-silver patina and areas of heavy malachite enrustation, stand.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong in 2000. 

Lot 1690. A rhinoceros horn cup, 17th-18th century, 6 5/8 in. (16.7 cm.) long. Estimate USD 80,000 - USD 120,000. Price realised USD 170,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

In the form of an open blossom carved in high relief around the sides with pairs of birds shown amidst rocks, including a pair of phoenixes on one side and a pair of cranes on the reverse, one in flight above the other and the tips of their beaks touching, with bamboo and a prunus branch rising from behind the rocks at one end to flank a pair of small birds, while another pair of birds perches in the two fruiting peach trees that form the handle at the opposite end, the horn of rich honey color, stand.

Provenance: Acquired in New York City in the early 20th century. 

Property from the collection of Robert and Adolf Hentschel.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Part I), 22 - 23 March 2012, New York

Lot 1691. A well-carved rhinoceros horn cup, 17th-18th century, 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 80,000 - USD 120,000. Price realised USD 86,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Raised on a tall foot encircled by a key-fret band and carved in low relief around the exterior with confronted archaistic chilong between C-scrolls and pendent lappets, with four chilong clambering up towards the rim, which is incised with a further key-fret border, and peering over into the interior, the base incised with a seal mark, Xuanhe nian zhi, wood stand.

Provenance: Brought to the United States in the early 1930s, and thence by descent within the family to the present owner.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Part I), 22 - 23 March 2012, New York

Lot 1692. A rare large rhinoceros horn cup, 17th-18th century, 5¼ in. (13.4 cm.) high. Estimate USD 300,000 - USD 500,000. Price realised USD 362,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Finely carved around the sides with three horses and a groom in a rocky landscape, one horse shown rolling on one side while on the reverse the other two stand partially obscured by the overhanging boughs of willow trees while the groom stands nearby, one of the willow trees forming the openwork handle along with two other trees at one end where a leafy branch is carved on the interior of the rim, the horn of dark honey color, wood stand.

Provenance: Acquired in the 1960s.

Property from the Margaret N. and Everett A. Palmer, Jr. Collection

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Part I), 22 - 23 March 2012, New York

Lot 1694. A rhinoceros horn magnolia-form cup, 18th century, 6 in. (15.2 cm.) long. Estimate USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. Price realised USD 74,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Well carved as a large magnolia blossom borne on a branch that forms the openwork base and rises up the sides where it bears further blossoms and buds and forms the openwork handle at one end opposite a chilongclambering up towards the rim at the other end, with a single stamen carved in high relief in the center of the interior below the overlapping petals, wood stand.

Provenance: Acquired in the United States prior to 1971, and thence by descent within the family. 

Property from a Private American Collection

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Part I), 22 - 23 March 2012, New York