Christie's New York will hold its Asian Art Week sales from March 23-26. The week will feature six sales across a variety of collecting categories - from traditional works of art and classical paintings to cutting-edge contemporary art from China, Japan, Korea, India and throughout Southeast Asia. One highlight will be the sale of scholars objects from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection on March 25, which include a comprehensive range of rhinoceros horn and ivory carvings. Rhinoceros horns have long been prized in China for their perceived medicinal and mystical powers. Traditional doctors believed that rhinoceros horn powder could reduce fevers, increase virility and reveal the presence of poisons. But from the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644) onward, rhino horn was valued not only for its medicinal powers, but also as a craft material, and a flourishing carving industry developed, especially in southern China, where the horns arrived from Southeast Asia. Horns were commonly fashioned into drinking vessels, elaborately ornamented with carvings of auspicious symbols. Stylistically there are differences through the various periods, influenced by changing scholarly tastes. Rhino horn carvings before the 15th century are without artificial coloring, while those of the later period are usually dyed. In general, rhino horn carvings of the Ming dynasty were also simple and relatively unsophisticated. Carvings became more intricate and elaborate during the Qing dynasty, when a large number of libation cups were produced. If you want to know more read a
detailed IHT story I wrote a couple of years ago on the topic.
