TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Details

A RARE MINIATURE PARCEL-GILT SILVER GLOBULAR TRIPOD JAR
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The jar is raised on three cabriole legs engraved with feathers, and is finely chased around the sides with three stylized flower heads and another on the underside, which are surrounded by various birds in flight and various animals shown amidst stylized plants, all below two pairs of birds in flight between plants on the waisted neck, and all reserved on a ring-matting ground.
1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) wide, Japanese wood box, silk pouch

Provenance

London Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, December 1995.

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Lot Essay

This rare miniature parcel-gilt silver tripod jar is similar to one with a cover, from Xi'an, illustrated by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 161, no. 390, and again in Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang Hoard, Shaanxi History Museum, Beijing, 2003, p. 144 (bottom right), where it is shown as a comparison for no. 29, p. 145, a plain silver jar. The cabriole legs of the Xi'an jar are, like those of the present jar, decorated with feathers, and the sides appear to have similar stylized flower heads, but different animal and bird decoration. The decoration on this jar is as finely executed as that on the present jar.

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