A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND SILVER-INLAID PARCEL GILT-COPPER TRIPOD DISH

Details

A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND SILVER-INLAID PARCEL GILT-COPPER TRIPOD DISH
SONG DYNASTY

Raised on three scrolled supports, the center of the interior inlaid with a mother-of-pearl flowerhead surrounded by six lotus leaves in profile raised on incised stems forming a medallion encircled by four mother-of-pearl winged dragons and two gilt lions with bushy tails and manes, all separated by blossoming stems executed in silver wire inlay, with further gilded animals and birds amidst silver-wire foliate scroll on the flat, everted rim within a rolled outer edge, all of the mother-of-pearl and gilt decoration with incised details, the metal with coppery patina and extensive blue-green encrustation, some loss of inlay
11in. (27.8cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

Although no other similar mother-of-pearl inlaid copper dish appears to be published, the aesthetic of this tripod dish is most likely based on inscribed and chased silver examples of Tang dynasty date. See the parcel-gilt dish with a very similar central motif surrounded by birds in flight separated by lotus blossoms and with birds and animals encircling the flat rim below a rolled edge in the San Diego Museum of Art, included in the exhibition, Chinese Gold and Silver in American Collections, Dayton Art Institute, November 10, 1984-January 6, 1985, Catalogue, no. 3. See, also, the parcel-gilt dish of this shape with a formal central floral medallion enriched by lions amidst grapevine arabesques and with birds and foliate tendrils on the rim, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, op. cit., no. 2