The Gilded Age

Note

E. R. F. Johnson was a noted explorer, yachtsman and researcher. He was a pioneer in the development of underwater photography and had close ties with the University of Pennsylvania, where a collection of his photographs are preserved. His father was Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867-1945), the founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA. It is very possible this may have been originally acquired by the elder E. R. Johnson, given that he gave Chinese works of art to the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 1920 and 1927, including the large crystal ball said to have belonged to the Dowager Empress Cixi, the pair of carved stone reliefs of the favorite horses of the Tang Emperor Taizong, and numerous jade and coral carvings.

For cups with similar subject, see the lotus-form libation cup, 17th century, sold at Christie’s, London, November 7, 2011, lot 11, and also the lotus-form cup with qilong, 17th century, in the collection of The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, accession number FE.313:1,2-2005.

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