A RHINOCEROS HORN LIBATION CUP, BY HU XINGYUE QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

superbly carved in high-relief with several chilong dragons clambering about the body, a group forming the handle and two more on the exterior of the spout, the body with a central band of taotie masks carved in shallow relief against a leiwen ground, encircled on both sides of the lip with a leiwen border repeated on the footrim, the deeply inset base signed Hu Xingyue, the horn of rich, even-toned honey-brown colour

Sydney L. Moss Ltd.
Collection of Mary and George Bloch.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23^rd October 2005, lot 42.

The overall condition is very good with only a very minor 3mm old repair to the tip of the spout. A small section of the lingzhi on the top has been polished down slightly. The patina is a little dry.
"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."

Although there appears to be no official recording of Hu Xingyue, his work is relatively well known and his seal mark can be found on a number of vessels. Jan Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p. 129, discusses Hu and notes that he probably worked in the 18^th century and signed his work by adding a square four-character seal mark in the archaistic style, as seen on the present finely worked cup and on another archaistic cup in the Museum voor Volkenkunde, Rotterdam, illustrated ibid., pl. 134. Chapman also mentions (ibid., p. 129) that Hu did not always carve the four characters in the same sequence but is known to have written the characters counterclockwise as well. Sydney L. Moss in his catalogue for the exhibition Emperor, Scholar, Artisan, Monk: The Creative Personality in Chinese Work of Art, London, 1984, p. 184, lists ten pieces with Hu's seal mark in various museums and private collections and illustrates a rhinoceros horn cup decorated with dragons and prunus, pl. 59, as an example.

Compare a closely related cup finely carved with a similar leiwen pattern around the foot and rim and with a group of chilong forming the handle, sold at Christie's London, 10^th December 1979, lot 239; another included in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carving, Shanghai, 2001, pl. 133; and a third example formerly in the Sloane collection and now in the British Museum, London, published in Derek Gillman, 'A source of rhinoceros horn cups in the late Ming dynasty', Orientations, December 1984, p. 13, fig. 5 above.

See also a cup of similar elegantly proportioned form and closely related decoration, from the collection of Gary Mack, New York, included in the exhibition Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth: Gems of Antiquities Collection in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2002, and also illustrated in Thomas Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 60, no. 13.