Lot 2711
  • 2711

A RARE AND EXCEPTIONALLY CARVED RHINOCEROS HORN LIBATION CUP, BY XING CHENG MING DYNASTY, DATED TO 1639

Estimate
8,000,000 - 12,000,000 HKD
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Description

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS ARE REQUESTED TO COMPLETE THE PREMIUM LOT PRE-REGISTRATION 3 WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE SALE. BIDnow ONLINE BIDDING SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE.



 



the gently flaring sides intricately carved in various levels of relief around the exterior, depicting on one side with two figures in a boat navigating down a swift river, a thatched fence and a brick wall on either side of the riverbank, and lofty trees, the reverse with two further figures upstream passing thatched huts and jagged cliffs, along one promontory a scholar and his attendant view the riverscape, inscribed to one side with Jimao xiari Moling Xing Cheng zhi ('Made by Xing Cheng of Moling on a summer day in the jimao year' corresponding to 1639), the interior carved with a reticulated high-relief pine tree growing from the side, the horn of rich chestnut tone

Provenance

John Sparks, London, 1959.
Collections of Edward T. Chow and Franklin Chow.

Exhibited

One Man's Taste. Treasures from the Lakeside Pavilion, Galleries of the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1988, cat. no. R5.
Craving for Carvings: Rhinoceros Horn from the Chow Collection, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 2003, cat. no. fc5.

Literature

Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999. pl. 153.
Thomas Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 145.

Condition

There is a 2 cm section of the mouthrim (near the inscription) which has been slightly polished down. Apart from some tiny nibbles to the mouth, the overall condition is very good.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Amongst rhinoceros horn carvings, those bearing an inscription are rare, but even more exceptional, and of invaluable historical importance, are those that provide the carver's name as well as a date of when the vessel was made. The nine-character inscription rendered on the face of a rock on the present vessel reads and may be translated as follows: 
Jimao xiari Moling Xing Cheng zhi.
'Made by Xing Cheng of Moling on a summer day in the jimao year (corresponding to 1639)'.

This inscription records the carver's name, Xing Cheng, and dates the vessel to 1639. It also provides an additional information: the place name 'Moling' which may be interpreted as the location where Xing Cheng worked and where the vessel was produced or the town where Xing Cheng came from. Moling was the name used for present day Nanjing during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Although no other carving signed by Xing Cheng appears to be recorded, it is suggested that he was possibly a pupil of the 17th century master carver Zhou Wenshu, a native of Moling (See Chapman, op.cit., p. 138). Edward Chow in his notes on this cup remarks that the vessel is in the style of Zhou Wenshu. He further mentions that the best rhinoceros horn carvers at the time came from Moling. Zhou's habit of incising an inscription on a rock surface near the lip of the cup, as seen on another vessel from the collection of Franklin Chow and illustrated in Fok, op.cit., pl. 130, is repeated here. In fact, the script used for the inscription on the two cups is identical. 

For examples of carvings by Zhou see a cup decorated with a rocky landscape and pine trees, the rock face of the cliff incised in seal script with the three characters Wenshu zhi (made by Wenshu), from the collection of Harvard University Art Museums, included in Fok, ibid., pl. 131. Another vessel, in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, carved with a landscape and signed and dated by Zhou, is published in Jan Chapman, 'The Chester Beatty Collection of Chinese Carved Rhinoceros Horn Cups', Arts of Asia, May-June 1982, p. 78, pl. 16. 

Artisans and craftsmen in China rarely signed their work unless they were commissioned to do so or felt that it was amongst, or indeed, their very best. While the inscription makes this vessel special, it is beautifully carved and a masterpiece in its own right. Edward Chow started his rhinoceros horn collection with this cup which he purchased from the renowned London dealer John Sparks in 1959. It was the exceptional workmanship, described by him as jingsu you li (extremely fine and forceful) that caught his eye. The landscape, inspired by the idyllic setting on the southern bank of the Yangtze River in Hubei province known as Chibi (Red Cliff) and made memorable by the Song poet, Su Dongpo (1037-1101), in his work titled Chibi fu (Ode on the Red Cliff), is skilfully rendered. Xing Cheng has treated his material as if painting on a hand-scroll - the rich landscape unfolds to the viewer as the cup is turned. Worked in high relief, the rock formations and trees appear three-dimensional.  In fact, the rhinoceros horn is an ideal material for using carving and cutting techniques that best reproduce the natural likeness of the myriad indentations and the uneven surface of the stunning cliffs of Chibi. Chow remarked that he was shen xing shen wei ('extremely honoured and delighted' to own this cup.  


For rhinoceros horn carvings depicting the landscape of Chibi see one in the collection of His Majesty King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, included in Bo Gyllensvard, 'Two Yuan silver cups and their importance for dating of some carvings in wood and rhinoceros horn', The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. Bulletin No. 43, Stockholm, 1971, pl. 7; and another illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai, 2001, pl. 128, attributed to the late Ming dynasty. See also a cup from the collection of Thomas Fok, published in Fok, op.cit., pl. 162, and later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot 1818.