Lot 2078. A pair of conch pearl and diamond ear pendants. Estimate HKD 380,000 - 580,000 (USD 48,640 - 74,240). Lot sold HKD 472,000 (USD 60,416) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lot 2049. A 5.01 carat fancy yellow diamond and diamond ring. Estimate HKD 320,000 - 580,000 (USD 40,960 - 74,240). Lot sold HKD 413,000 (USD 52,864) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lot 2044. A diamond, sapphire, emerald and onyx 'Panthère' ring, by Cartier. Estimate HKD 250,000 - 420,000 (USD 32,000 - 53,760). Lot sold HKD 377,600 (USD 48,332) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lot 2149. A magnificent 8.26 carat fancy intense blue diamond and diamond ring. Estimate Upon Request. Lot sold HKD 120,360,000 (USD 15,406,080) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lot 2138. An extraordinary set of 'Imperial green' jadeite cabochon and diamond jewelry. Estimate Upon Request. Lot sold HKD 70,800,000 (USD 9,062,400) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

Comprising a necklace, the chain set with ten oval jadeite cabochons of intense green and high translucency, spaced by a line of three brilliant-cut diamonds; a pair of earrings en-suite set with two jadeite cabochons of similar material; all mounted in 18K gold, the jadeite cabochon weighing from 19.654 to 15.482 carats, measuring from 19.28 x 15.56 x 8.75 mm to 17.30 x 15.43 x 7.98 mm, necklace approximately 42.5 cm long, earrings 2.5 cm long. 

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lot 2101. An exceptionally fine and rare jadeite ‘Laughing Buddha’ and diamond pendant. Estimate Upon Request. Lot sold HKD 9,558,000 (USD 1,223,424) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

The jadeite of brilliant emerald green color with high translucency, carved as a Laughing Buddha, surmounted by a brilliant-cut diamond, mounted in 18K gold, jadeite Buddha approximately 46.22 x 43.33 x 7.68 mm. 

Accompanied by report no. KJ 96375 dated 25 August 2017 from the Hong Kong Jade & Stone Laboratory stating that the jadeite tested is natural, known in the trade as “A Jade” 

Jadeite is known as the King of All Jades in China. It is one unique type of spiritual stone with significant meaning that is intricatelywoven into the Chinese history and culture. The Budai monk, nicknamed laughing Buddha, is usually identified with or seen as an incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha. It is adored all over the world for its lightheartedness, joy and sparkling energy. Its laugh is a representation of both contentment and abundance of good fortune, which is matched by this combination of bright and vivid color, fine texture, and size of this meticulously carved jadeite piece.

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lot 2073. A highly impressive jadeite bead and diamond necklace. Estimate Upon Request. Lot sold HKD 47,200,000 (USD 6,041,600) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited.

Composed of twenty-nine impressive jadeite beads of old-mine emerald green color and exceptional translucency, diameter measuring approximately 17.06-13.50mm, completed by a clasp set with a cushionshaped diamond weighing approximately 5.00 carats, mounted in 18K gold, length approximately 47.0 cm. 

Accompanied by report no. KJ96162 dated 4 August 2017 from the Hong Kong Jade & Stone Laboratory stating that the jadeite tested is natural, known in the trade as “A Jade” 

Composed of 29 natural graduated translucent jadeite beads, with the largest bead diameter measuring approximately 17.06mm, Lot 2073 is a brilliant strand of jadeite beads that stands out from its peers. The delicacy of its design doesn’t imply the production of the necklace is simple. For the unity of its look and the consistency of its color, it requires a rough large enough to withstand the great deal of weight loss during production, more importantly, it also requires inconceivable patience and luck to find such stone that carries a wide enough band of vivid green color. The rough is cut by well-trained and experienced jadeite experts into most economical number and size of cubic shapes. Then the cubes are polished into round beads. Of this complicated procedure, meticulous planning, steady hands, attention to detail and well-practiced expertise are required at every stage, which marks the extremely high value associated with an outstanding piece like jadeite bead necklace. 

Back in imperial China, the royal court China once had a standing order for all available material of this kind. Ownership of Imperial Jadeite was reserved only for the Emperor family. In modern history, jadeite had accompanied the First Lady of the Republic of China, Soong Mei-ling, to many occasions, as the best compliment to her grace and elegance.

Poly Auction. Magnificent Jewels, 2 October 2017 1:30pm, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

“The Way is not in the sky; the Way is in the heart.” 
― Gautama Buddha

“Purity or impurity depends on oneself,
No one can purify another.” 
― Gautama Buddha

“True love is born from understanding.” 
― Gautama Buddha

BOROBUDUR "never ending story" by Daniel Tjongari, Surabaya, Indonesia - www.danieltjongari.wordpress.com

Anonymous, Book of the Dead: the final judgement scene, about 940 BC, red and black ink on papyrus. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

PROVIDENCE, RI.- The RISD Museum presents Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now: from the British Museum, which explores the vital role of drawing as a continual and active process of discovery. The exhibition is on view from October 6, 2017, through January 7, 2018, and is one of only two U.S. presentations for this remarkable show. 

Lines of Thought features a selection from the British Museum’s exceptional collection of drawings, renowned for its depth. The exhibition spans more than 500 years of drawings, creating fresh contexts for historical works and making connections between old masters and modern and contemporary artists. Featuring seventy works by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Peter Doig, and Rachel Whiteread, among others, this show provides visitors with an unprecedented opportunity to view many works never before shown in the U.S. 

Master of the Drapery Studies, Figure and drapery studies, about 1470–1497, pen and ink. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

“We are proud to present such a compelling collection of drawings,” says John Smith, director of the RISD Museum. “This exhibition solidifies the Museum’s position on the primacy of this medium not only as cornerstones of a comprehensive collection, but also as key educational materials. Drawing is a core principle of any art practice and has informed the evolution of artmaking from traditional to contemporary multi-media works. It is an honor to show this exhibition alongside our collection.” 

Rather than a chronological survey of the medium arranged by period or school, Lines of Thought focuses on the thought processes that motivate drawing: brainstorming, experimentation, insight, association, and decision-making. The first section, Likeness of a Thought, explores drawings as a process of externalizing thinking, giving visible and concrete form to the inchoate, almost as “working notes to self.” Brainstorming dives into how artists think through doing, and how their ideas laid down on the page often build upon one another, while Inquiry and Experiment investigates the act of drawing as a problem-solving tool that can make the invisible seen. Insight and Association considers thinking that is neither linear, observational, nor mechanical. Insight can occur when drawing is used associatively, as a space to explore and dream. Lastly, Development and Decisions shows how drawing is often used as a way to refine ideas through elimination, modification, and sometimes destruction or erasure. 

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519), The Virgin and Christ Child With a Cat, about 1478–81, pen and brown ink over stylus underdrawing. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Jan Howard, chief curator and the Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the RISD Museum, states: “As one of the foundation methods for art practice and education, drawing has the power to impart a deeper understanding of both artistic process and thematic focus. Having such an incredible collection on view in Providence is a great privilege for our community, and their presentation perfectly exemplifies how we think and talk about drawings here at the RISD Museum.” 

Lines of Thought is an opportunity for the RISD Museum to add exemplary drawings from its own collection to the discussion. Works on paper by Elizabeth Catlett, Shirazeh Houshiary, Robert Rauschenberg, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are among the selection that will be on view in the Granoff Modern and Contemporary Galleries. 

Albrecht Dürer, Studies for Adam and Eve, 1504, pen and brown and black ink. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

The exhibition corresponds with a robust suite of public programming that explores the importance of drawing as a medium and tool for thinking and discovery. A study day will be organized to bring in broader perspectives on drawing and pedagogy. A variety of approaches to drawing processes, both historical and contemporary, will be explored and experienced with RISD faculty members and guest educators, practitioners, and scholars across a variety of disciplines. The exhibition is accompanied by an open studio space for all. Daily prompts, demonstrations, collaborations, and other creative experiments will offer hands-on opportunities to use drawing as a tool to imagine, discover, and explore. Out of Line, a special issue of Manual, the Museum’s twice-yearly journal about art and its making, will be published concurrent with the exhibition and focus on how line is employed across media–for better or worse–to honor particular traditions or histories, establish boundaries and order, inspire dissent and disruption, and create new forms and spaces. 

Lines of Thought was developed and toured the UK with the support of the Bridget Riley Art Foundation. Curated by Isabel Seligman, it was conceived to speak directly to artists and art and design students. This premise coincides with RISD’s (Rhode Island School of Design) Experimental and Foundation Studies Department offering for the first time, in the academic year 2017–18, a drawing concentration for undergraduate students. Drawing courses comprised of students from different majors who are working, discussing, and critiquing together is the ideal environment for investigating the potential drawing holds as a primary, cross-disciplinary practice. 

Melchior Lorck, Tortoise and view of a walled, coastal town, 1555, charcoal, heightened with white on blue paper. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Isabel Seligman, lead curator of the British Museum exhibition said, “It is hugely exciting to see Lines of Thought open at the RISD Museum, the final chance to see this exhibition outside the UK. As part of our commitment to share the British Museum’s collection across the world, we are particularly delighted to partner with the RISD Museum to support and encourage drawing in arts education. Over a thousand students have now attended British Museum workshops supported by the Bridget Riley Art Foundation in the UK, and I look forward to taking part in sessions for students at the RISD Museum in November.” 

October 6, 2017 – January 7, 2018

Jacopo Tintoretto, A nude man flying, around 1560–1590, charcoal. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum

Jacques Callot, Anatomical studies after Lodovico Cigoli and studies of figures and horses, around 1616, red chalk, pen and ink, and graphite. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Peter Paul Rubens, Dancing figures, all linking hands, about 1627–1628, pen and brown ink. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. 

Victor Hugo, Landscape with a castle, 1857, brush and brown wash, with stencilling, pen and ink and touches of white gouache. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 

Honoré Daumier, Study for The Troubadour, about 1868–1872, pen and grey ink, with grey wash and black chalk. Image ©The Trustees of the British Museum.

Paul Cézanne, Study of a plaster Cupid, about 1890, graphite. Image ©The Trustees of the British Museum.

Edgar Degas, Nude woman bathing, about 1896–1898, charcoal. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Piet Mondrian, Tree study, 1913, graphite. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Stephen Willats, Conceptual still-life, 1962, graphite, blue ball-point pen, brush drawing in black ink and collage. ©Stephen Willats. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Frank Auerbach, Head of Ruth, 1994–95, charcoal and graphite. © Frank Auerbach (Courtesy of Marlborough Fine Art). Image ©The Trustees of the British Museum

Lot 15. A superb large Jizhou 'partridge feather'meiping, Southern Song dynasty, 35.8 cm, 14 1/8  in. Estimate 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 HKD. Lot sold 3,700,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

robustly potted with a tapering body rising to broad round shoulders, sweeping up to a short neck with rolled lip, the body liberally decorated with variegated cream-coloured splashes against a dark brown ground mimicking partridge feathers, save for the knife-pared footring unglazed revealing the buff body, the base covered in a dark brown matte glaze.

Provenance: Collection of the Chang Foundation, Taipei. 

Literature: James Spencer (comp.), Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, cat. no. 54.
Zhongguo gu ci yao daxi. Zhongguo Jizhou yao/Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites. Jizhou Kiln of China, Beiing, 2013, p. 313, fig. 12.

Note: This meiping can be considered one of the major masterpieces of the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province. Although the serene shape of this vase and the mottled glaze, with its irregular cream and russet-coloured markings on a lustrous dark brown ground, are characteristic of the kilns’ production, the patterned glaze has rarely turned out as successfully as on this piece, and vases of this type are rarely as large and superbly proportioned. This glaze pattern, in China generally known as ‘partridge’ (zhegu) or, with more amber-coloured splashes, ‘tortoiseshell’ (daimei) mottling, is one of the highly creative and technically challenging decorative techniques developed at the Jizhou kilns by evenly covering the surface of the vessel with an irregular pattern of ash-rich glaze splashes to achieve a naturalistic effect reminiscent of the spotted pattern of partridge feathers or hawksbill turtle shells. Such techniques, inspired by nature, appealed to the predilections of the Southern Song (1127-1279) literati.

Although bowls formed the largest output of wares from the Jizhou kilns, a small number of upright vessels was produced in the later years of the Southern Song and into the Yuan (1279-1368) dynasty. The slight degradation of the proportions towards that later period can be observed when comparing an example recovered from the Shinan ship that sank off the coast of Korea around 1323 while on its way to Japan with a large load of fine Chinese ceramics on board; see The Shinan Wreck II, National Maritime Museum of Korea, Mokpo, 2006, p. 289, pl. 08; and Da Yuan fan ying: Hanguo Xin’an chenchuan chuchui wenwu jinghua/Sailing from the Great Yuan Dynasty. Relics Excavated from the Sinan Shipwreck, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou, 2012, p. 46. 

Compare also a slightly smaller meiping decorated with similar flecks as the present vase, from the collection of Mrs Samuel T. Peters, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, included in the Museum’s exhibition Treasures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, China House Gallery, New York, 1979, cat. no. 36; a meiping of this type, but with a short straight neck and a greater profusion of splashes, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 216; a smaller version from the collection of Mr and Mrs Janos Szekeres, sold in our New York rooms, 7th December 1983, lot 210, and included in the exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown and Black-Glazed Ceramics, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 1995, cat. no. 91; and another sold in our New York rooms, 16th March 2016, lot 262.

Lot 262. A rare 'Jizhou''tortoiseshell'-glazed meiping, Song Dynasty, Height 8 1/8  in., 20.7 cm. Estimate 120,000 — 150,000 USD. Unsold. Photo: Sotheby's.

Cf. my post A rare 'Jizhou''tortoiseshell'-glazed meiping, Song Dynasty 

Sotheby's. Song – Important Chinese Ceramics from the Le Cong Tang Collection, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 10:20 AM 

Lot 12. A Jian russet-streaked 'nogime temmoku' bowl, Southern Song dynasty, 11.5 cm, 4 1/2  in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000. Lot sold 3,460,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

well potted with a conical body rising from a straight foot to a gently flared rim, unctuously covered with a lustrous black glaze with russet 'hare's fur' streaks running down from the rim, the glaze thinning at the rim and stopping short of the foot with three bulges and revealing the dark brown stoneware body.

Provenance: Collection of Rolf Cunliffe (1899-1963), 2nd Baron Cunliffe of Headley (no. T6).
Bonhams London, 11th November 2002, lot 40. 

Note: The unprecedented enthusiasm for tea drinking in the Song dynasty (960-1279) brought about a tea culture that contributed to the development of various new ceramic tea wares. White and celadon-glazed tea bowls were replaced in popularity by black-glazed wares, whose dark surfaces provided a more dramatic backdrop for the white froth of the whipped tea. In Chalu [Record of Tea], written between 1049 and 1053, the leading calligrapher and tea connoisseur Cai Xiang (1012-1067) notes in the section devoted to ‘Tea Bowls’ (chazhan) that if “the tea is of a pale colour, a black bowl is the best match. Bowls fired in the Jian kilns have a bluish black colour with stringy décor like hare’s fur (tuhao). The somewhat thicker bowl preserves the heat and cools slowly after having been warmed. These bowls are therefore very much in demand” (Soon-Chim Jung, ‘The Significance and Influence of the Tea Culture of the Song Dynasty’, The Monochrome Principle. Lacquerware and Ceramics of the Song and Qing Dynasties, Munster, 2008, p. 117). The Huizong Emperor (r. 1100-1126), one of China’s greatest imperial art lovers, agreed with Cai’s views and in his treatise on tea, Daguan chalun [Discourse on tea in the Daguan reign period] written in 1107, noted that the best black bowls have the hare’s fur pattern (ibid.).

The Japanese word temmoku (or tenmoku) designates the Chinese Tianmu mountains in Lin’an county, north Zhejiang province, where Jian hare’s fur (Japanese nogime) bowls, made in the neighbouring province of Fujian, were in use for tea drinking by the monastic communities who lived there. Consumption of tea was an established practice in Buddhist monasteries, as tea was prized as a stimulant in assisting monks in their meditation, as well as being ritually offered to the Buddha. When Japanese monks brought the black Jian tea bowls to Japan together with the cult of tea, they were adopted with enthusiasm.

The present bowl is notable for its glossy glaze and the evenness of the russet-coloured hare’s fur pattern, which untypically covers most of the bowl. It is further remarkable for its steep conical shape resting on a very narrow foot, which makes this bowl more elegant than the typical, more rustic tea bowls from the Jian kilns with more rounded sides and a wider foot, or of conical shape but much larger. Bowls of this form are rare, as can be seen when comparing the many line drawings of temmoku bowls published in Tōbutsu temmoku [Import commodity ‘temmoku’], Chadō Shiryōkan, Kyoto, 1994, passim, where a bowl of related proportions, but somewhat larger and with the glaze retaining more black, preserved in the Tokugawa family and now in the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, is illustrated, pl. 11. A bowl with russet hare’s fur streaks similarly predominating, but of the more classic Jian tea bowl form, in the Capital Museum, Beijing, is published in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 8, pl. 206. 

Lord Cunliffe was one of England’s most important collectors of Chinese works of art, who started in the early 1940s to collect Qing dynasty jades, soon followed by ceramics, archaic bronzes and early jades. His collection included many famous treasures, including no less than three blue-and-white Chenghua ‘palace bowls’. A large part of his collection was sold at Sotheby’s London, the present bowl at Bonham’s London.

Sotheby's. Song – Important Chinese Ceramics from the Le Cong Tang Collection, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 10:20 AM 

Lot 14. A Qingbai lobed wine ewer, cover and bowl, Northern Song dynasty. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000. Lot sold 1,187,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection of the Chang Foundation, Taipei. 

Literature: James Spencer (comp.), Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, cat. no. 56.

Note: Qingbai-glazed ewers with their matching warming bowls were popular among the gentry of the Northern Song period (960-1127). The present piece is particularly charming because of the expressively modelled lion on its cover, and rare due to its relief petal decoration. Numerous contemporary paintings depict ewers of this type, being used to serve wine; see for example three related ceramic ewers and their matching bowls portrayed in the hanging scroll Literary Gathering, attributed to the Huizong Emperor (r. 1101-1125), in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the catalogue to the Museum’s exhibition Precious as the Morning Star, Taipei, 2016, p. 41. Spur marks on the ewer corresponding to marks inside the bowl confirm that this group was conceived as a set.

Lot 3694. A finely carved rhinoceros horn 'Landscape' libation cup, 17th century, length 14.2 cm, 5 5/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000. Lot sold 812,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

 of conical form, the flaring sides tapering to a hollowed oval base, carved around the exterior in high relief with a continuous riverscape detailed with figures engaging in various activities, including one holding a qincrossing a bridge, two standing beside a pavilion, another riding on a horse with an attendant following behind, all amongst jagged cliffs and rocky outcrops with pine and wutong trees, one end of the horn set with an openwork handle formed by the gnarled pine tree trunks twisting through the pierced crevices, surmounted by pine tree trunks with branches extending over the rim and onto the interior, the horn richly patinated to a rich toffee tone darkening to a deep brown colour on the carved underside, wood stand.

Note: Two rhinoceros horn cups similarly carved with figures in a craggy landscape were sold in our London rooms, the first, from the collection of Marcel Lorber, 24th April 1987, lot 281, and the second, 29th October 1982, lot 94; another cup was sold in these rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3793; and a further cup was sold in our New York rooms, 28th February 1980, lot 67.

Lot 3695. A finely carved rhinoceros horn 'Chilong and Lingzhi' libation cup, 17th century, length 16.5 cm, 6 1/2  in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000. Lot sold 2,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

of conical form, deftly carved on the exterior in high relief with three long-horned chilong, each with a sinuous body terminating in a bifurcated tail, clambering amongst leafy bamboo and stems bearing clusters of large lingzhi, the base formed from further large lingzhi heads in openwork, extended upwards on one side forming a double handle of intertwined bamboo and lingzhi with a fourth chilong perched atop, the beast clambering over the rim onto the interior of the vessel skilfully rendered with angled contours to suggest a lingzhi, the glossy patina of a chestnut-brown colour, wood stand.

Note: A cup similarly carved with chilong among lingzhi and bamboo stalks was sold in our New York rooms, 10th/11th April 1986, lot 295, and again in these rooms, 7th October 2006, lot 911; two were sold in our London rooms, the first, 11th May 2011, lot 24, and the second, 13th July 2005, lot 102; and another cup was sold at Christie’s London, 11th July 1977, lot 3. See also a slightly smaller example in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, illustrated in Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pls 205 and 206, together with one in the collection of Gerard Levy, pl. 204; and two others offered in this sale, lots 3698 and 3702.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 03 Oct 2017

Lot 3698. A rhinoceros horn 'Chilong and Lingzhi' libation cup, 17th century, 14.7 cm, 5¾ in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000. Lot sold 2,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the flared sides carved in relief on the exterior with a sinuous long-horned chilong, grasping a sprig of lingzhiin its mouth and clambering amongst stems issuing further lingzhi and leafy bamboo, the double handle formed from intertwined bamboo and a stem issuing further clusters of lingzhi around the rim, the interior skillfully rendered with angled contours to suggest a lingzhi, the horn of a honey-brown tone with lighter striations.

Provenance: Sotheby’s London, 15th June 1979, lot 128.

Note: Expertly carved with sinuous chilong among lingzhi and bamboo stalks, this cup is notable for its attractive light-brown colouration which resembles the colour of honey. Rhinoceros horn of this colour was highly sought after by Ming and Qing connoisseurs and Jan Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p. 60, notes that ‘carvings in the honey tones are almost invariably associated with the best quality carving’. 

Lot 3700. An archaistic rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th century, 10.2 cm, 4 in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000. Lot sold 875,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the protruding central section resting on a straight foot and surmounted by a wide and everted rim, carved in low relief around the middle section with a diaper band with bracketed motifs, encircled by keyfret bands at the rim and the foot, set with an 'S'-scroll handle on one side with a chilong, the horn of an even golden brown colour.

Lot 3702. An archaistic rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th century, 14 cm, 5½ in. Estimate 300,000 — 500,000. Lot sold 1,500,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

of rectangular section, the flaring sides supported on a short splayed foot, set on one side with a handle decorated in openwork with a chilong climbing up to the rim, the exterior carved in low relief with a wide band of taotie masks reserved on a leiwen ground, below a band of keyfret at the rim, the interior similarly decorated with a stylised chevron band, the horn patinated to a dark brown tone with golden flecks.

Lot 3703. A rhinoceros horn 'Peach' libation cup, Late Ming-early Qing dynasty, 7 cm, 2 5/8  in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000. Lot sold 625,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

modelled in the form of a hollowed peach, borne on a gnarled leafy bough forming the handle, extended to further branches issuing a smaller peach fruit on the base, carved bamboo stand.

Provenance: The Songzhutang Collection, acquired in New York, 1997. 
Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2011, lot 3035.

Exhibited: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth: Gems of Antiquities Collections in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2002-2005.

Note: Exquisitely carved in the form of half a peach, this cup is notable for the naturalistic modelling of the leafy branches which provide an attractive contrast to the plain surface of the vessel. Furthermore, the attractive darker streaks and spots of the rhinoceros horn have been cleverly incorporated to simulate the markings on ripe peaches.

Lot 3704. A finely carved rhinoceros horn 'Lotus leaf' libation cup, 17th century, 14.7 cm, 5 7/8  in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000. Lot sold 2,500,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

modelled in the form of a finely veined lotus leaf, the exterior carved with a leafy millet spray on one side and a broad, downward folded leaf with furled edges on another, set on one side with an openwork handle formed from intertwining stems issuing a lotus flower, extended to the base as a further bloom maturing to a pod bursting with seeds, the interior worked in high relief with a crab clutching a millet spray in its claw, two small conch shells and a mentis, the horn patinated to a warm reddish caramel tone, wood stand.

Provenance: The Songzhutang Collection.
Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1703.

Exhibited: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth: Gems of Antiquities Collection in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2002-2005.