A Superbly Carved Rhinoceros Horn Log-Raft Cup By You Tong, Late Ming Dynasty

superbly carved in varying relief with the figure of Zhang Qian, the great Han statesman and explorer, resting on a panel bridging over the sides of a log-raft behind a lotus flower stemming from the interior of the vessel, the figure grasping the cords of his robes in his left hand and a thin arched sprig in his right hand, the sprig extending upwards and over his head into a thick gnarled leafy branch issuing prunus and lotus flowers, the raft exquisitely formed as a long hollowed segment of a gnarled tree trunk, the broad central cavity tapering at the prow forming the twig-entwined spout, a further thin twig adjacent to the spout stemming outward, the opposite end carved as a stern with a flared undulating rim, all atop swirling waves carved in low relief to the underside and rising from the base to crest gently against the side of the stern, one side carved in low relief with Zai lai huajiazi ['Again comes a sexagenary cycle'], followed by a circular seal and square seal reading You and Yuyuan respectively, the horn of a deep brown tone lightening to a warm honey brown tone towards the tip

Collection of W. Fleisher, Stockholm.
Collection of Edwin Meader, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Two Yuan Silver Cups and Their Importance for Dating of Some Carvings in Wood and Rhinoceros Horn, BMFEA 43, Stockholm, 1971, pl. 5.

The cup is in very good condition with very minor age cracks to the underside. The patina is very smooth and well preserved. There are a few polished down insect nibbles.
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This exceptional rhinoceros horn libation cup, carved in the form of Zhang Qian on a log-raft by the late Ming master You Tong, is arguably the finest quality of all the known vessels of this form. The closest comparable example is a slightly smaller cup, also by You Tong, from the Qing Court Collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai, 2002, pl. 119 (fig. 1), where it is noted that the interior of the cup is incised with an Imperial Qianlong inscription dating to 1782. The inscription praises the work of You Tong and suggests that You Yuyuan and You Tong are the same carver.

In addition to these, the largest single collection of rhinoceros horn raft vessels can be found in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, which has four examples, one of which is illustrated by Jan Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pl. 47. Others can be found in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which interestingly shows Zhang with a fly whisk in his hand, published ibid., pl. 48; and a further raft in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, also carved by You Tong, illustrated in Jan Chapman, ‘The Use of Manipulation in Chinese Rhinoceros Horn Cups’, Arts of Asia, July-August 1982, fig. 6. Another raft, now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, also bearing an Imperial Qianlong inscription datable to 1782, was exhibited on loan by the then Chinese Government in the famous Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition in 1935; see Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, Beijing, 1936, no. 60 (or no. 2948 in the standard London version published) and also included in the exhibition Jiangxin yu xiangong. Ming Qing diaoke zhan / Uncanny Ingenuity and Celestial Feats: The Carvings of Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2011, cat. no. 30.

For examples sold at auction, see a raft from the collection of Kenyon V. Painter sold in our New York rooms, 21st September 2006, lot 8, and a raft from the Collections of Edward T. Chow and Franklin Chow, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3239.

In his discussion of the current piece, ‘Two Yuan Silver Cups and Their Importance for Dating of Some Carvings in Wood and Rhinoceros Horn’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Bo Gyllesnvard illustrates two others, in the collection of His Majesty the King of Sweden, pls. 4-5, as well as a silver raft of the Yuan dynasty, pl. 3, noting that the silver raft represents the iconographic prototype for ‘Zhang Qian on a log raft’. Three silver rafts bearing the seal of Zhu Bishan and dated to 1345 are in the National Palace Museum, in the Palace Museum and in the Cleveland Museum of Art, published in Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, op.cit., pls. 382-4.

The present carving of a log-raft with the figure of Zhang Qian is a particularly fine example of vessels belonging to a special small group of rhinoceros horn carvings. The carver has used a fine piece of Asian horn with an exceptionally thick lip which he skilfully carved into the figure of the famous Han dynasty explorer and official envoy Zhang Qian. Zhang, often depicted like a Daoist immortal, was the first official diplomat to bring back information about Central Asia to the Han court. According to legend, his travels were in search of the source of the Yangzi River, the origin of the Milky Way, and the means of making wine from grapes. Hence the popularity for making wine-pouring vessels using this subject matter. On the present piece, he is rendered with a smiling face gazing up in content with his open book resting on his lap. Perhaps he has been drinking from the double-gourd container filled with wine which hangs from a tree branch beside him. The carver has manipulated the rest of the horn into the shape of a long hollow tree trunk to form Zhang’s raft. Log-rafts of this type are technically amongst the most challenging and complex forms to create. Jan Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, op.cit., pp. 101-105, explains in detail the work involved with the making of rafts and concludes that ‘it is scarcely likely that any but the most skilled carver would have attempted them’.