A magnificent and exceptionally rare and large rhinoceros horn 'hundred boys' libation cup


17th/18th centuryExquisitely carved in high relief and openwork with numerous boys engaged in groups or singularly in leisurely and playful pursuits including flying kites, playing ball, walking a monkey, holding a bird and flying a butterfly, playing weiqi, running around, picking fish from a fishbowl, swimming, conversation, playing musical instruments, holding aloft flowers, plants, flags and pennants, playing 'rock-paper-scissors' and hide-and-seek, fooling around, climbing on trees and rocky ledges, crossing a bridge above a gushing stream, all amidst rocky ledges covered with gnarled pine, wutong and cypress trees below the clouds, with a bird in flight, the pine forming the handle growing over the rim onto the interior of the cup above the high-relief adult dragon looking back at its young chi-dragon writhing over a graduating rocky ledge on the spout end of the rim, the horn of dark chocolate and amber tone, with a superbly carved hongmu stand, box. 30cm (11 6/8in) long (3).
|十七/十八世紀 犀角雕「春韶集慶」杯Provenance:Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collection, New YorkChristie's New York, 1 December 1994, lot 27Angela Chua Collection, Hong KongExhibited:Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 1997-2005Published and Illustrated:T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p.216, no.157來源：美國賽克勒（1913-1987年）舊藏紐約佳士得，1994年12月1日，拍品27香港蔡劉木蘭女士收藏展覽：1997-2005年間展於新加坡亞洲文明博物館出版及著錄：霍滿棠，《中國犀角雕刻珍賞》，香港，1999年，頁216，編號157Arthur M. Sackler (1913–1987) was an American psychiatrist, art collector, and philanthropist whose fortune originated in medical advertising and trade publications. He began collecting art in the 1940s. His collection was composed of tens of thousands of works including Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern as well as Renaissance and pre-Columbian art. He founded galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Princeton University, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology. In 1987, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. was opened months after his death. Sackler had a particular interest though in archaic Chinese bronzes and his collection of Chinese art that was donated to the Smithsonian was considered one of the largest collections of ancient Chinese art in the world. Following his death, The Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, was opened at Peking University in 1993.亞瑟·M·赛克勒是美國著名的心理醫生，收藏家和慈善家，發跡於醫療廣告和出版行業，其數萬件收藏始於1940年代，涵蓋中國、印度、中東以及文藝復興和美洲早期藝術。他設立諸多美術館，包括美國大都會博物館和普林斯頓大學的展館、哈佛大學亞瑟·M·賽克勒美術館和亞瑟·M·賽克勒藝術和考古博物館。賽克勒對中國古代青銅器情有獨鐘，其贈與史密斯學會的銅器被公認為全世界最大規模的中國青銅器收藏之一。1987年，在其辭世數月之後，華盛頓史密斯學會亞瑟·M·赛克勒美術館開幕，1993年，北京大學赛克勒藝術与考古博物館亦隨之設立。The exquisite craftsmanship evident in the masterful carving and piercing, ingeniously creating a three-dimensional sense of depth, is superbly combined with an imaginative and playful design, fluidly executed along the natural form of the large rhinoceros horn. The impressive size would have required a careful and rare choice of the prized rhinoceros horn material. It is a tour de force of rhinoceros horn carving and can be numbered amongst the very finest examples ever recorded.The theme of joyous and playful groups of boys engaged in traditional games, leisurely pursuits and merrymaking represents the propitious wish for numerous sons and continuity of the family, as well as Confucian ideals in education, and the advancement of sons. In its depiction of the cheerful boys, the cup draws upon related scenes of 'boys at play' painted as early as the Southern Song dynasty, when the imagery of boys at play set in a garden scene became a popular theme in paintings of the Court artist, Su Hanchen, who was active during the early 12th century. See 'Boys at Play in an Autumn Garden' by Su Hanchen, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Zhongguo Huihua Quanji, vol.3, Zhejiang, 2000, p.140, no.100. Such imagery was also painted on Imperial porcelain of the Ming dynasty from the Xuande to the Jiajing periods, as well as depicted on carved lacquer, jade and textiles; see for example a blue and white bowl, Xuande mark and period, illustrated by Liao Pao-Show, A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Hsüan-te Ware I, Taipei, 2000, pp.252-255, nos.96 and 97. The exceptional three-dimensional high-relief carving of the facing adult and young dragons to the interior of the cup, conveys the message of a father teaching his son the way of life. A similar motif is carved on large rhinoceros horn libation cup, late Ming dynasty, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, pp.146-147, no.131.The Palace Museum, Beijing example is similarly carved in openwork but with scholars (rather than boys) engaged in leisurely pursuits, illustrating the later stage in life, only hinted at on the present cup by the boys similarly crossing bridges, playing weiqi, and conversing.Compare two related rhinoceros horn 'Hundred Boys' libation cups, 17th century (17.7cm and 25.3cm high), from the Thomas Fok and Chung-kit Fok Collections, respectively, illustrated by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pp.212-215, nos.155 (which was later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 1815) and 156.杯以亞洲犀角隨形雕成，上寬下窄，外壁採用鏤雕及高浮雕技法，雕「春韶集慶」圖，自下而上，雕數十個童子於山陰石台間嬉戲玩耍，有採花、蹴鞠、摔跤、牽猴、撐傘、戲蟲、下棋、游水、捉魚、摘果、猜拳、拉箏、躲藏、爬樹等，百態眾生，境況熱鬧，栩栩如生。其場景山石疊巒，小橋溪水，梧桐、松樹成蔭，蒼松作杯把，松針從杯外壁翻至內側，杯內雕蒼龍教子，內壁以山石成形，一大龍及小龍分別攀於杯內壁。整器工藝繁複，但佈局均勻，刀法蒼勁卻圓潤，為犀角雕中難得精品。此杯上部主要在內外壁浮雕紋飾，下部則採用鏤雕，刀法蒼勁有力，在紋飾佈局上，追求繪畫效果但又超越繪畫，遠近層次分明，富有立體效果，頗具觀賞性。在雕刻技藝上，採用高浮雕，達到極高的藝術境界，是目前傳世品犀角雕中為數不多的作品之一。此杯工藝非凡，刀工精湛，整杯雕超過四十個童子，且每個小童神態動作皆不相同，工匠將「春韶集慶」圖以圓潤勁健的刀法立體的呈現出來。孩童遊戲之題材一直受歷代文人及帝王喜愛，於南宋初年的宮廷畫家蘇漢臣就曾作有畫風寫實細膩、以孩童遊戲為題材的畫作，如台北故宮博物院藏一件「秋庭戲嬰」圖，見《中國繪畫全集》，卷3，浙江，2000年，頁140，編號100。而此類題材在皇家御用之瓷器、漆器或者織物上都有所見，如台北故宮博物院藏一件明宣德青花嬰戲圖碗，見《故宮藏瓷大系：宣德之部上》，台北，2000年，頁252-255，編號96及97。參看北京故宮博物院藏一件明晚期犀角雕蘭亭修禊圖杯，雖主題不同，但其整體構圖佈局及工藝與此杯均較為類似，而杯內壁亦雕刻蒼松及蒼龍教子，可資比較，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：竹木牙角雕刻》，香港，2002年，頁146-147，編號131。另見兩例類似的十七世紀犀角雕「百子杯」，一件為松竹堂舊藏（17.7厘米高），另一件為霍宗傑先生舊藏（25.3厘米高），見霍滿棠著，《中國犀角雕刻珍賞》，香港，1999年，頁212-215，編號155（後售於香港佳士得，2010年5月31日，拍品1815），及156。