A PAIR OF 'RUYI' SILVER VASES, MEIPING Southern Song dynasty, 12th-13th century (2)A PAIR OF 'RUYI' SILVER VASES, MEIPINGSouthern Song dynasty, 12th-13th centuryEach bottle-vase with broad shoulder tapering down to a narrow, recessed foot, decorated with five continuous rows of deeply grooved inter-locking ruyi scrolls to imitate tixi lacquer, the cylinder neck finely incised on the square rim a band of keyfret pattern, the surface lightly polished showing traces of black tarnish and malachite encrustation. 8 1/16in and 8 1/8in (20.5cm and 20.7cm) high (2).南宋 如意紋銀梅瓶一對Compare the very similar silver meiping and cover discovered from a hoard in 1959 at Deyang, Sichuan province, illustrated in Zhongguo chuanshi wenwu shoucang jianshang quanshu: jinyin qi (Compendium of Chinese Collection and Connoisseurship: Gold and Silver), Vol. II, Beijing, 2005, p. 193, describing the decoration as 'ruyi' pattern and attributed to Southern Song. Compare also the silver meiping decorated with ten rows of closely related tixi-imitating pattern described as 'ruyi yuntou', discovered in 1993 from a hoard dated to the Southern Song period, published in Sichuan Pengzhou Song dai Jinyinqi jiaocang (A Cache of Song Dynasty Gold and Silver Vessels from Pengzhou in Sichuan), Beijing, 2003, color plate 9. The same silver meiping is published again in Zhongguo chuanshi wenwu shoucang jianshang quanshu: jinyin qi (Compendium of Chinese Collection and Connoisseurship: Gold and Silver), Vol. II, Beijing, 2005, p. 193, together with a plain meiping and a chased crane-pattern meiping discovered from the same Pengzhou hoard and now in the collection of the Pengzhou Museum. The iconic ruyi pattern is sometimes called an archaistic 'cicada' pattern, derived from the design element on archaic bronzes. Compare, for example, a silver cup unearthed from the Song dynasty hoard at Lujiashan, Xingzi, Jiangxi province, now in the collection of the Jiangxi Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo chuanshi wenwu shoucang jianshang quanshu: jinyin qi (Compendium of Chinese Collection and Connoisseurship: Gold and Silver), Vol. I, Beijing, 2005, p. 4.The dating of this pair of meiping is consistent with the result of technical study and analysis. A full report is available upon request.