A DOUBLE-HANDLED RHINOCEROS HORN LIBATION CUP QING DYNASTY, 17TH / 18TH CENTURY

highly polished of amber tone, the conical cup carved in openwork with two gnarled prunus branches set on opposite sides, the branches extending over the lip of the cup and wrapping along wall of the exterior over the finely carved low-relief archaistic bands, all set between a leiwen border at the mouth and around the tall hollow foot ring, the interior rim pared down slightly thinner than the interior central well, wooden stand

Collections of Edward T. Chow (purchased in Hong Kong, 1963) and Franklin Chow.

One Man's Taste. Treasures from the Lakeside Pavilion, Galleries of the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1988, cat. no. R17.
Craving for Carvings: Rhinoceros Horn from the Chow Collection, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 2003, cat. no. fc17.

Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999. pl. 79.

The overall condition is very good with only a 5 mm filled area of loss to the foot.
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Carved from the solid part of an Asian horn, the present cup is unusual for its form and the blending of two distinct types of decorative styles: bronze-archaism and floral designs. It is rare to find double-handed rhinoceros horn cups, although an undecorated example, in the collection of Dora Wong, is published in Thomas Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 48. See another plain quatrefoil form cup with two handles sold at Christie's London, 13th December 1976, lot 8, and again, in these rooms, 22nd May 1979, lot 291.

While the shape of this vessel is based on a bronze prototype, and hence, fittingly carved with an archaistic design of stylized dragons and taotie mask in low relief, the two handles are the craftsman's innovative contribution to the design. The prunus branches are not only pleasing to the eye but bring a sense of 'softness' to the shape. The overall effect is a highly decorative and masterly carved contemporaneous vessel with the much favoured archaistic touch. Chapman lists a number of carvings that fit into the 'archaistic-combination' category which she describes as a small group of vessels predominantly archaistic in shape but decorated with flora and fauna elements combined with those of an archaistic character; see two examples in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, included in Chapman, op.cit., pl. 194 and pl. 196, and one in the Gerard Levy collection in Paris, ibid., pl. 195.

The light translucent colouration and the small delicate size of the cup are also worth noting. Edward Chow in his notes describes the vessel as jiaose danhuang touming, zuke bawan ye ('the horn is of light yellow colouration and is transparent, can be held as a 'plaything' by its foot').