A Chinese bamboo root 'pine' libation cup, 17th/18th century...

Hammer

£2,600

A Chinese bamboo root 'pine' libation cup, 17th/18th century, carved in high relief and openwork as the bough of a pine tree, chestnut brown patina, 7.7cm high,

Provenance - Dr J W H Grice (1891-1976) collection, label no.18.

CONDITION: There is a loss to a pine branch and some pine needles on one side. There are numerous tiny chip losses to the rim. There is a V-shaped section to the rear of the cup with splits each side. There is small hole to the base, otherwise in reasonable condition.



Provenance

Dr John William Hawksley Grice (1891-1976) is regarded as a very important collector of carving in Britain; at the time he was collecting, he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring Qing dynasty carvings. He wrote about 'Chinese Bamboo Carving' in Country Life in 1954, one of the first articles in English on the subject, and at the time he was collecting he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring late carving. Dr Grice and his wife Kathleen moved to China in 1922 and he worked as a doctor in Tianjin for 30 years. He built his ivory and bamboo collection in China in the decades he spent there before leaving in 1952. He gave a sizeable proportion of his carved bamboo collection to London's Victoria and Albert Museum and donated other ivories and bamboo to the British Museum.