A rare rhinoceros horn 'naturalistic' libation cup


17th/18th centuryThe vessel naturalistically contoured in the form of the rhinoceros horn with a flaring rim tapering to a tip end, the exterior and interior left plain and undecorated revealing in the natural beauty of the horn, the horn of an attractive golden honey tone darkening to a blackish-brown at the tip, box. 11.3cm (4 1/2in) long (2).
|十七/十八世紀 光素犀角杯Provenance:Christie's New York, 31 August 1999, lot 375Angela Chua Collection, Hong Kong來源：紐約佳士得，1999年8月31日，拍品375香港蔡劉木蘭女士收藏This charming cup celebrates the natural form and beauty of the short Sumatran rhinoceros horn, undecorated yet finely contoured and polished, conveying a sense of elegance and simplicity. It is very rare to find undecorated rhinoceros horn cups; for example Jan Chapman, notes only three such 'undecorated' examples out of a total of 219 in the collection of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; see one illustrated by J.Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p.146, no.170. This type of cup is also known as naihebei, 'helpless cup', due to the fact that such cups cannot stand on their naturalistic pointed base and therefore have to be placed upside down or to be supported on a stand. If a guest was offered wine in such a cup, they had to finish the wine before they could place the cup down.Compare a similar cup carved from a Sumatran rhinoceros horn illustrated by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p.104, no.56, and J.Chapman, ibid., no.64, which was later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1729. For related examples of undecorated full-tip cups, see T.Fok, ibid., nos.50, 57 and 60.此杯取材自體積較短少的蘇門答臘犀角，按其原形削去表皮，挖空內部為容器。此類犀角杯因其造型不能平放，又稱「奈何杯」，敬酒必須飲盡，否則無法把犀角杯平方。此杯色澤柔和，線條優美，充分顯示出蘇門答臘犀角的自然美態，為賞心悅目之佳作。犀角作為珍貴的材料，得之者往往費盡心機，極盡雕鏤之工藝，然此杯表面光素無紋，以天然為本，更顯其不俗品味。Jan Chapman在《中國的犀牛角雕刻藝術》一書中提到都柏林查士特圖書館219件犀角雕收藏中，只有三件表面不加雕刻，可見此類器皿十分罕見，更顯本器之難能可貴。可參考都柏林查士特圖書館一例，見同上著錄，倫敦，1999年，頁146，編號170。與本器相類者，可參考松竹堂舊藏一例，著錄於霍滿棠，《中國犀角雕刻珍賞》，香港，1999年，頁104，圖56，及Jan Chapman，同上著錄，編號64，後售於香港佳士得，2008年5月27日，拍品1729。其他素身犀角杯，可參看霍滿棠同上著錄，編號50、57及60。