A SMALL PARCEL-GILT SILVER RECTANGULAR BOX AND COVER

LIAO DYNASTY, TWENTY-EIGHT-CHARACTER INCISED INSCRIPTION DATED TO THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE TAIPING PERIOD, CORRESPONDING TO 1024

Details

A SMALL PARCEL-GILT SILVER RECTANGULAR BOX AND COVER
Liao dynasty, twenty-eight-character incised inscription dated to the fourth year of the Taiping period, corresponding to 1024
The cover with a slightly domed oval center chased with two parrots in flight amidst fruiting branches reserved against a finely ring-punched ground, each of the surrounding corners incised with a character above a leaf spray, the canted shoulder incised with leafy meander above a diamond band on the sides which is repeated on the sides of the box above the tapering lower body and flared foot, the inscription incised on the base of the interior, all of the decoration picked out in gilding
4½in. (11.5cm.) long, box

Lot Essay

The design of two circling long-tailed birds can be seen as early as the Tang dynasty as a decorative motif on silver, such as the parcel-gilt circular box and cover chased with two parrots circling amidst leafy stems illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; gongyi meishu, bian 10 (A Complete Collection of Chinese Art; Arts and Crafts, vol. 10), Gold, Silver, Glass and Enamelware, Beijing, 1987, p. 32, pls. 66-7. For a parcel-gilt square box of Liao date, chased in relief on top with two circling phoenixes and decorated on the sides with bands of lozenge pattern, and incised with a twenty-nine-character inscription bearing a date corresponding to 1026 AD, see Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, pp. 396-7, no. 700.

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