A small silver 'floral' box and cover, Tang dynasty

Japanese Private Collection, circa 1980.

Sotheby's New York, 18th-19th March 2014, lot 172.

Compare a similar silver box and cover, sold at Christie's London, 10th May 2011, lot 184; another engraved with a pair of confronted mandarin ducks to the center, from the Kempe Collection, illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 94, first sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 42, later at Christie's New York, 12th September 2019, lot 544; lastly see a Tang dynasty parcel-gilt silver box and cover decorated with mythical beasts, sold in these rooms, 20th March 2024, lot 264.