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AN INLAID COPPER AND BRONZE TEAPOT AND COVER, TIBET, 19TH CENTURY
Lot 287-FAS0425
Set with a dragon-form handle to one side and a spout emerging from a makara to the other, the body applied with bronze cartouches enclosing dragons and flanked by X-shaped scrolling vines, the shoulder with a wide band of scrollwork below inlays of red glass in imitation of coral. The copper repoussé cover with interlacing ruyi heads applied in bronze around the lower rim and surmounted by a bud-shaped finial.
Provenance: From a private collection, Vienna, Austria.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, small dents, few nicks, light scratches, the finial loosened, some of the inlays lost and some renewed. Fine, naturally grown patina overall.
Weight: 1.5 kg
Dimensions: Height 28.8 cm
The dragon handle on this vessel indicate that it was made by a Nepalese craftsman, either in Nepal for export to Tibet or in Tibet itself. Teapots with dragon handles and spouts issuing from the jaws of water monsters or makara were found throughout the Tibetan world.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related silver, copper, and bronze teapot, Tibet, dated to the 19th century, 17 cm tall, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number IM.3-1925. Compare a closely related copper and bronze teapot, Tibet, dated to the late 19th century, 21 cm tall, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number IM.29-1910.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 11 September 2012, lot 154
Price: USD 8,750 or approx. EUR 11,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Tibeto copper alloy and silver ritual teapot, Tibeto-Chinese, 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the similar form, the bud-shape finial, and makara spout. Note the size (20 cm) and silver appliqué.
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