A carved rhinoceros horn 'chilong and pine' libation cup


17th/18th century Deftly carved around the exterior with archaistic chilong clambering on rocks beneath a large gnarled pine tree forming the handle and with its branches extending into the interior of the cup, the lower section with finely incised waves visible also on the base, the horn of dark-caramel tone. 17cm (6 3/4in) long.
|十七/十八世紀 犀角雕松枝蟠螭紋盃Provenance: Henry Grünfeld (1904-1999), and thence by descent within the family來源： Henry Grünfeld先生（1904-1999）舊藏；並由其家族保存迄今Henry Grünfeld, as co-founder of the investment bank S.G.Warburg, was a prominent individual in the development of investment banking and the growth of London as a financial centre following the Second World War. Born in Breslau, he became prominent in the German Steel Industry at the age of just 20 after he took over his father's family steel piping business. Shortly after 1934, following the rise of Hitler, he fled to London where he joined forces with Siegmund Warburg in the New Trading Company, which was established to help refugees from Europe extract their money from their native country and invest it safely.Rhinoceros horn libation cups that combine naturalistically carved scenes of nature such as pine trees together with archaistic chilong are rare. Compare with a related rhinoceros horn cup with dragons amidst a painterly-style landscape, 17th century, illustrated by T.Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p.54, no.7.