A parcel-gilt 'silver dragon' bowl. Liao Dynasty, dated by inscription to AD 1026

A parcel-gilt 'silver dragon' bowl. Liao Dynasty, dated by inscription to AD 1026. photo Bonhams

With deep rounded sides rising from a flat base, the interior chased with a writhing dragon amidst cloud scrolls against a finely ring-punched ground, partially encircled by the raised twenty-two character inscription on the base, the steep sides with a border of stylised leafy blooms, all below a beaded rim, the interior partially gilt on the details. 17.6cm (7in) diam. Estimate: £15,000 - 20,000, HK$ 180,000 - 240,000

Provenance: Prince Wenzhong's Treasures, Hebei Province, by repute
Purchased by George Bloch in Hong Kong, and housed in Europe for approximately the last twenty years

The present bowl belongs to a group of nearly four hundred gold and silver objects found at the site of the Official Residence of Prince Wenzhong, at Zhou Lu in Hebei Province in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Despite the site not having been scientifically excavated, published 'treasures' from the site in both public and private collections, such as the Musée Guimet in Paris and the Dr Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, have shown that all are inscribed with the place name Wenzhong Wangfu, which may be translated as 'The Official Residence of Prince Wenzhong', and are all dated between AD 1024 and 1027, during the years of the Taiping period.

Compare another parcel-gilt silver bowl in a private collection, chased with a very similar dragon to the present example and which, according to the text, is incised with a 30-character inscription dating the piece to AD 1025, illustrated by Han Wei and C.Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, pp.380-381, fig.692.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 13 May 2010. New Bond Street www.bonhams.com