A silver repoussé 'dragon' bowl, Central Asia or Tibet, circa 6th/7th century | 中亞或西藏 約六/七世紀 瑞獸紋銀盌

The dragon medallion at the centre of this rare silver repoussé bowl clearly originates in China, but certain features, including the ‘flaming pearl’ at the back of the dragon’s head and the distinctive scalloped petal friezes point to an origin in Central Asian or Tibet. Several comparable examples produced in the early Tibetan empire are published, including three vessels at the Cleveland Museum of Art and a gilt silver plate at the Miho Museum, Shiga, Japan, illustrated in M. Carter, 'Three Silver Vessels from Tibet's Earliest Historical Era: A Preliminary Study,' Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, vol. 3, 1998, pp. 23-47. See also a silver repousse dish in the Pierre Uldry Collection, illustrated by Pierre Uldry, Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, cat. no. 128.