Noble Gold

1850-1947
Height (including original stopper in situ): 6.1 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.4/0.8 cm (square)
Stopper: gold with integral cork and spoon, original

Provenance:
Ko Collection
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, Hong Kong, 1998
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 2612
Christie’s, New York, 12 September 2018, lot 664

Published:
JICSBS, 23/1 (Spring 1991), cover
JICSBS, Autumn 2007, p. 10, fig. 23/24

 

Gold; with a flat lip, foot, and foot rim; chased in varied relief on both main sides with a four-clawed dragon emerging from clouds amidst flickering flames in pursuit of a flaming pearl, the narrow sides with confronting formalized lotus-petal designs framed with bands of parallel lines, the foot inscribed in regular script Qianlong nian zhi 乾隆年製 (‘Made in the Qianlong era’), one outer edge of the foot inscribed with the maker’s metalsmith’s mark, Ke Tian ji 柯添記.

Alexander Whittaker