A very rare rhinoceros horn 'floral' bowl


17th/18th centuryThe circular bowl carved around the exterior in high relief with gnarled branches issuing prunus, magnolia and hibiscus, the horn of dark-chocolate tone. 11.6cm (4 5/8in) diam.
|十七/十八世紀 犀角花卉紋盌Provenance: a distinguished European private collection, on loan to the Oriental Museum, Durham, from the mid-1970s to circa 2011, and thence by descent 來源：顯貴歐洲私人收藏，於70年代中旬至大約2011年借展予英國道咸大學東方藝術館，並由後人保存迄今Rhinoceros horn bowls are rare, because they required a horn of exceptional size. Jan Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pp.88-91, explains the rarity of bowls and illustrates an example of similar shape, but carved with a figural scene and bearing an inscription by the Qianlong emperor on its base, in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, pl.71. Compare also with a related rhinoceros horn 'floral' bowl, Ming dynasty, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai, 2001, pl.111.