A repoussé and engraved 'phoenix' box and cover, Tang dynasty | 唐 銀捶揲鳳穿花紋蓋盒

J.J. Lally, New York, October 2008

Although birds in pairs and lotus petals might have suggested influence from Persia and India, the motif of two phoenixes on this box facing each other would be typical of Tang iconography. The sculptural relief of repoussé technique enhances the visual impact of the motif with a sensual touch to the box. Such a treatment allows the relief pattern to further stand out against the ring-matted background by limiting the light reflection, as opposed to the plain and smooth ground, see Bo Gyllensvärd, 'T'ang Gold and Silver', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no.29, London, 1957, pp.35-36 for further details of the techniques employed. A similar repoussé work in circular box featuring a tortoise with a serpent, from the collection of Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967), is illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl.135. A similar subject with repoussé technique is demonstrated on the base of a bowl from the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, exhibited in Chinese Gold & Silver in American Collections, Tang Dynasty A.D. 618-907, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, 1984-85, cat. no.19.