Lot 170 | Wine cup in the shape of a lotos leaf with flowers

WINE CUP IN THE SHAPE OF A LOTOS LEAF WITH FLOWERS.

Date: China. Qing dynasty. 17th-18th c.
Technique: Rhinoceros horn, yellowish brown with darker parts, partly translucent.
Description: Cup in the shape of a lotus leaf, the elongated handle consisting of a bundle of three
stems with another leaf and a flower, plus a bamboo branch and a branch of lychee fruits,
all bound together at the bottom with a blade of grass.
Measurement: Weight 208g, h.17.5cm, 10.3x9.5cm.
Condition B. Some chips at the lip.


Provenance:
-Aquired at VAN HAM Fine Art Auctions, A.347, lot 5. 4th Dec. 2014.
-Formerly collection Dr. Otto Schwend. Acquired locally 1923-38.

Literature:
-Compare a cup in the lotos bundle shape: Thomas Fok: Connoisseur-ship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, ill. 96.
-Ausstellungskatalog: Craving for Carvings: Rhinoceros Horn from the Chow Collection, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 2003, ill. no. fc12.

The special attribute of this cup is that the conical shape is carved from the complete horn. Jan Chapman writes in "The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China", London, 1999, on p. 72-73, that the inner, hollow part of the horn of the Asian rhinoceros naturally gives the inner and outer shape of the dome as a lotus leaf.