TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Details

A FINELY ENGRAVED SMALL SILVER 'MANDARIN DUCK' BOX AND COVER
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
Both sides of the convex box are chased with a pair of confronted mandarin ducks enclosed by leafy, foliate scroll, and the upright sides with further foliate scroll, all on a ring-punched ground.
1 ¾ in. (4.4 cm.) diam.; weight 37 g

Provenance

Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK94.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 42.

Literature

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 94.
Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, figs. 68b, 80r, 93k.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 96.

Exhibited

Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 94.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 42, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

Lot Essay

The decoration of a pair of mandarin ducks on this box can be seen on other small silver boxes of Tang date, such as the example of even smaller size (2.9 cm.) illustrated in World of the Heavenly Khan: Treasures of the Tang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, p. 56. Unlike the pair of ducks on the present box, which are shown confronted, these ducks are shown standing side-by-side on a lotus leaf. A pair of confronted ducks standing on a lotus decorates the top of a parcel-gilt silver box excavated in 1970 from Prince Bin's treasure hoard at Hejiacun, Shaanxi province, illustrated by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 229, pls. 546-547. As one can see in pl. 547, the bottom of the box has different decoration, as does the bottom of the present box. A pair of mandarin ducks, especially when combined with lotus (yuanyang), conveys the wish for a harmonious marriage, making it fitting decoration for a lady's silver box.

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