Blanc de chine figure of the seated Damo, Dehua, He Chaozong impressed mark, 17th – 18th century

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17th-18th century, Damo, Dehua, He Chaozong impressed mark

Blanc de chine figure of the seated Damo, Dehua, He Chaozong impressed mark, 17th – 18th century. Estimate: € 25,000 – € 30,000. Sold for € 856,000. Photo Lempertz

The figure of Bodhidharma sitting on a holey rock base with a prepared leg, holding a scroll in his left hand is wrapped in a richly pleated robe that covered his bald head, and wearing his typical bushy beard and eyebrows with open eyes without lids. A single shoe stands on an elevated rock. All covered with bluish white glaze. Small chips and cracks fire. H 34.6 cm

Provenance: Purchased from John Sparks Ltd., London, 1985
Collection Annelotte Elbrecht (1924-2013)

Exhibitions: Chinese ceramics. Masterpieces from Private Collections, Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne, May 7 bis August 7, 1988

Literature: See, very similar Damo in Shanxi Museum, Taiyuan
Cf .: Geng Dong Sheng, Ming Qing Dehua Baici (Ming and Qing White Wares from Dehua), Guangxi Meishu 2014, fig. 33

Lempertz. 05.12.2014, 14:00 Asian Art | Cologne

Skull Candlestick, Western Europe-Austria, 17th-18th Century

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17th-18th century, Skull Candlestick, Western Europe-Austria

Skull Candlestick, Western Europe-Austria, 17th-18th Century. Estimate € 5,000.00. Photo Auctionata

Wood, metal. Human skull carved of wood. Mounted on a wooden Baroque base. Iron plate on top of the skull. Dimensions: 36 x 13 x 20 cm. Good condition.

Candlesticks of this sort used to stand in the chapels of rest for the wake.

This is a rare candlestick from a chapel of rest. The human skull is carved of wood and mounted on a wooden Baroque base. The foot of the base is formed as a gold painted blossom that is pierced by four bones. An iron plate is mounted on top of the skull. The skull is painted in bone color and has got no lower jaw. Candlesticks of this sort used to stand in the chapels of rest for the wake.

Auctionata. Cabinet of Curiosities. Dec 9, 2014, 12 pm EST, Berlin

Skull of Buffalo Horn, Germany, 17th-18th century

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17th-18th century, Buffalo Horn, Germany, skull

Skull of Buffalo Horn, Germany, 17th-18th century. Estimate € 10,000.00. Photo Auctionata

Buffalo Horn. Height: 6.5 cm; diameter base: 7.5 cm. Good condition

This is an exceptionally filigree carved skull of buffalo horn. It originates from Germany from the 17th/18th century. The skull of a human head is depicted without lower jaw. It conveys the transience of human being.

‘Teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom’ (Psalm 90:12). Death is an outsider in our today’s society, an unloved marginal figure. We live in the belief of the idea that we could outwit nature and strive for eternal life. Clerical life had almost come to a standstill in the ‘dark Middle Ages’ (9th C.), which inside the church led to strive after asceticism and the cleaning of anything secular and ruinous. The result were also the foundation of many cloisters and was connected to a certain mysticism, which is still felt today in the walls of a cloister. The heaped appearance of the Black Death in the 14th and 15th century led again to an enforcement of the Memento Mori thought. Dances of the death, death sculptures, changing heads and skulls found entrance into the prayers and mediations about life and death. The confrontations with death and the consciousness of the transience of the earthly were supposed to animate a more god-fearing life.

Auctionata. Cabinet of Curiosities. Dec 9, 2014, 12 pm EST, Berlin

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century

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17th-18th century, libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 30,000 – 50,000 (€24,000 – 40,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

Finely carved and undercut with a scholar seated in a grotto under a lofty pine near a waterfall, with another pine forming the handle of the cup, the interior carved with further rocky outcroppings, the horn a rich honey brown color. 3 3/4in (9.6cm) high; 5 1/2in (14cm) long

This object has been in the United States since 1930.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century

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17th-18th century, libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 90,000 – 120,000 (€73,000 – 97,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

The exterior sides of the flattened conical section of horn undercut and carved in raised relief to depict wizened scholar officials and/or immortals and their boy attendants amid a continuous rocky riverside tableau of waterfalls and crashing waves, the interior well of the cup unusually further incised and undercut to depict gnarled pine boughs, waterfalls, and cranes; the horn displaying a patina of variegated russet and chocolate hue. 4 3/4in (12cm) high;6in (15cm) long

This lot has been in the United States since 1948.

Provenance: a Stamford, Connecticut estate

For rhinoceros horn libation cups in the Qing Court Collection, with intricately undercut handles and figures inhabiting landscapes similar to this lot, see Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji, volume 44 (Zhumu ya jiao diaoke), 2002, cat. nos. 145 (Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden), 146 (Hunting), 147 (Figures in a Landscape) and 148 (Eight Immortals), pp. 167-172, each as early Qing dynasty.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO

A rhinoceros horn lotus form libation cup, 17th-18th century

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17th-18th century, lotus form libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A rhinoceros horn lotus form libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 30,000 – 50,000 (€24,000 – 40,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

Carved as large lotus leaf riding the crest of a wave forming its base, four cavorting chilong clambering on the side of the vessel, the largest forming the handle, the horn a pale honey brown color. 2 1/4in (5.6cm) high; 6 3/8in (16.3cm) long

This object has been in the United States since 1930.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century

Étiquettes

17th-18th century, libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 40,000 – 60,000 (€32,000 – 49,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

Carved to the front and back with paired taotie masks under an everted rim embellished with a key fret band, the handle composed of two frolicking chilong, one climbing over the rim of the vessel, the surface well worn with good patina. 2 1/2in (6.3cm) high; 5 3/4in (14.6cm) long

This object has been in the United States since 1930.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century

Étiquettes

17th-18th century, libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 15,000 – 25,000 (€12,000 – 20,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

The small cup elegantly carved with two quatrelobed diaper patterned reserves flanking a chilong clambering up the side of the vessel biting onto a key fret band at the rim, the horn a deep honey brown color. 2 1/4in (5.7cm) high; 4 1/8in (10.4cm) long

This object has been in the United States since 1930.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century

Étiquettes

17th-18th century, libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 30,000 – 50,000 (€24,000 – 41,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

Elegantly carved as a lotus blossom in the stages of opening, the inner leaves and center carved in the interior well with leafy stalks forming the handle and the base of the vessel, the horn a rich honey color with fine patina. 2 1/2in (6.3cm) high; 5 1/8in (13cm) long

This object has been in the United States since 1930.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO

A carved rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century

Étiquettes

17th-18th century, libation cup, rhinoceros horn

A carved rhinoceros horn libation cup, 17th-18th century. Estimate US$ 30,000 – 50,000 (€24,000 – 41,000). Image: Courtesy of Bonhams.

Finely carved and undercut with a continuous scene of paired phoenix birds standing in a grotto under a brilliant sun, and a single crane perched on a rocky outcropping with others in flight, the two scenes separated by a gnarled pine tree forming the libation cup handle, the horn a rich honey color throughout. 3.5in (8.8cm) high

This lot has been in the United States since 1971.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 PST – SAN FRANCISCO