Gilt Silver Bowl and Cover

Tang dynasty, late 8th - early 9th century

This is one of a very small group of around fifteen or sixteen closely related bowls and covers, most of which are now in museum collections around the world. Many of these bowls are believed to have been discovered in Balin, near Mongolia at the beginning of the twentieth century. This bowl was formerly in the collection of the well-known Swedish collector, Martin Månsson (1880-1952). He apparently acquired it directly from Swedish collector and engineer, Orvar Karlbeck (1879-1967). Karlbeck worked in China as a railroad engineer and in the 1920s was commissioned by the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities to collect objects for them. He founded the Karlbeck Syndicate, a group of collectors, dealers and museums – who provided financial backing and for whom he made several collecting trips. The objects, including this magnificent bowl, were recorded in two volumes of Karlbeck-Konsortiet