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Lot Essay
Stemcups in silver, gold and and gilt-bronze were introduced to China from Central Asia and from as far away as Western Europe. The shape of these cups may be based on these western forms, but the decoration became typically Chinese.
Although the theme of birds in flight amidst scrolling vines reserved against a ring-punched ground was popular on gilt-silver vessels during the Tang dynasty, the ovoid shape of this stem cup and cover is very unusual. For a stem cup of more rounded shape with a cover, also decorated with birds and scrolling vines, but with the cover surmounted by a stupa-form finial, in the collection of Pierre Uldry, see Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, no. 177.
Although the theme of birds in flight amidst scrolling vines reserved against a ring-punched ground was popular on gilt-silver vessels during the Tang dynasty, the ovoid shape of this stem cup and cover is very unusual. For a stem cup of more rounded shape with a cover, also decorated with birds and scrolling vines, but with the cover surmounted by a stupa-form finial, in the collection of Pierre Uldry, see Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, no. 177.