WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

16
A fine parcel-gilt silver box and cover
Tang dynasty
Diameter: 1D in, 3.2 cm
of circular form with a domed top and
bottom, and straight sides. The top is finely
decorated with a design of two mandarin
ducks, perched on broad flowers borne on
leafy stems, amid other leafy branches, and
with leaf scrolls to the sides, all gilt with
chased details, on a finely ring-punched
ground. The box is similarly decorated.
A very similar silver example is illustrated
in Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in
the Carl Kempe Collection, no. 94,
pp. 146–7.
For related parcel-gilt silver boxes,
see Kelley, Chinese Gold and Silver in
American Collections: Tang Dynasty
AD 618–907, no. 36, p. 69; Uldry,
Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die
Sammlung Pierre Uldry, no. 167; and
Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Quan
(Metal, Jade, Stone volume), no. 89, p. 117.
17
A small silver box and cover
Tang dynasty, 7th–8th centuries
Diameter: 1P in, 4.8 cm
of circular form with straight sides and a
shallow, domed base and cover. The top
and base are chased and engraved with
birds perched on a leafy, floral scroll, and
the sides with cloud scrolls, all on a dense,
ring-matted ground.
Formerly in the Cunliffe collection,
no. A115.
For related boxes, see Gyllensvärd, Chinese
Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection,
nos. 91 and 92, pp. 144–5; Kelley, Chinese
Gold and Silver in American Collections:
Tang Dynasty AD 618–907, no. 35, p. 69;
and Trubner, “The Arts of the T’ang
Dynasty”, no. 353.
ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008 25