156 - CHINESE CHALCEDONY AGATE QUATREFOIL DISH

CHINESE CHALCEDONY AGATE QUATREFOIL DISH TANG STYLE 唐代風格 瑪瑙花口盤carved with a quatrefoil outline,with shallow rounded sides raising gracefully from a short foot ring, the colourful, translucent stone with natural banded ripples and eyes of golden-yellow, orange and honey-brown tones, brilliantly polished to a lustrous sheen 15.8cm wide Formerly in a private French collection, Versailles, France前法國私人舊藏，凡爾賽，法國 The quatrefoil shape was popular from the Tang dynasty onwards and appears to have reached an apogee in use during the Song and Yuan dynasty. It can be found in at least three other media, including metal, lacquer, jade and ceramic. For a larger but almost identical lozenge-shaped brown lacquer tray, dating to the Yuan Dynasty (14th century) with similar shallow everted rim and delicate ribs where the petals meet, see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no: 2001.535. Compare to a larger agate dish (20.9cm wide) with similar form, dated to 14th-17th century, was sold at Bonhams Paris, 10 December 2024, lot 17.