A bronze kundika, early Tang dynasty | 唐初 響銅象首瓶

The provenance of this lot has been updated.

Compare a very similar bronze vessel with elephant-head spout standing on a circular dish, in the Yurinkan Museum, Yurinkan, illustrated in Masahiko Satô and Hasebe Gakuji, Sekai Tôji Zenshu/Ceramic Art of the World, vol.11: Sui and T'ang Dynasties, Tokyo, 1976, p.291, fig.122; and another sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2000, lot 187 and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 20 May 2018, lot 2901. See also a porcelain kundika of a comparable form excavated in Xinjian county, Jiangxi province, 1975, and now preserved in the Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Nanchang, published in Zhongguo meishu quanji. Gongyi meishu bian: Taoci [Complete series on Chinese art. Arts and crafts section: Ceramics], vol.2, Shanghai, 1988, pl.16.