Beschreibung:

A fine Chinese archaistic rhinoceros horn libation cup, 16th / 17th century. The horn of a mellow dark honey tone with a quatre-lobed bowl with a key fret band at the rim. The exterior finely carved in shallow relief with a central girdle of taotie between bands of stiff leaves and raised on a high slightly flared foot, small rim chips, 8.8cm high, 13.4cm. wide, 153g weight. Provenance: the Alexander Collection. William Cleverley Alexander (1840-1916) was one of the most noted connoisseurs of his day, an accomplished draughtsman and a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club; he was renowned for his taste of Western paintings and Asian works of art. The collection was started in 1867 and included items from the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Alexander lent generously to the exhibitions at the Burlington Fine Art Club, and to the City of Manchester Art Gallery Exhibition, 1913. Woolley and Wallis sold a Yuan dynasty blue and white gourd-shaped vase from this important collection, 15th July 2005 for a hammer price of £2,600,000, and another inscribed rhinoceros horn libation cup for £280,000 in May of this year. For further details about The Alexander Collection, cf. Hobson, Rackham and King, Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections, 1931, where 58 pieces from the collection are illustrated. For related examples, cf. Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, pp.150-153. CITES Appendix 1, Annex A (exempt). A copy of the letter confirming this is available.