A RARE SILVER 'CHILONG AND LINGZHI' HANDLED CUP SONG DYNASTY

cast with a zhadou-form body supported on a domed foot and set with a handle in the shape of sprig of lingzhi, the globular body cast in low relief with two sinuous chilong prowling and grasping lingzhi in their jaws, the bushy manes flowing outward to frame their faces, all against a finely stippled ground, a band of lingzhi heads forming the cupped mouth and undulating rim, the base cast with a character
Width 3 in., 7.6 cm

Provenance:
The present cup is unusual in its zhadou-form body and its inclusion of mythical animals in the otherwise plant-inspired motif. A number of small cast-silver cups that have floriform designs have been excavated from Song and Liao dynasty sites, such as two Song dynasty footed lotus-form cups discovered in Pingqiao Village, Liyang County, Jiangsu province, and now in the collection of the Zhenjiang Museum, illustrated in Zhenjiang chutu jinyinqi [Gold and Silver Wares Unearthed in Zhenjiang], Beijing, 2012, pls 39-40; along with three further silver floriform cups from the same site and period, ibid. pls. 36-38; and a related silver cup excavated in a Liao tomb at You'ai Village, Baiyinhan Township, Baling Right Banner and now in the collection of the Inner Mongolia Museum, Huhehaote, and exhibited in Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire (907 – 1125), Asia Society, New York, 2006, cat. no. 92b. See a related pair of Song dynasty silver footed floriform cups sold in these rooms, 31st March - 1st April 2005, lot 170.