Description:

A FINE IVORY COURT TABLET 'HU'
China, Ming dynasty
L. 54 cm
An ivory court tablet of long, curved rectangular form. The tablet has a narrow upper end and broader lower end. The lower end is square in shape, while the upper end is rounded with slightly curved corners. The smoothly carved surface reveals the fine grain and vertical lines of the ivory. The ivory is lightly polished, resulting in a delicate sheen.
From an old southern German private collection, supplemented by inheritance in the 1950s and acquisitions in the 1960s to the 1980s - Comes with sales permit for ivory objects

Hu tablets, also known as shouban (‘hand tablet’ in Chinese) were in use as early as the Tang period (618 - 906). During the Ming period officials from the first to the fifth rank used ivory tablets on which to write notes during an audience with the Emperor. The use of the hu tablets was very much confined to the imperial grounds, since they were handed out to the officials by designated doorkeepers upon entry into the palace and later collected for safekeeping. A Ming dynasty painted portrait of Fan Zhongyan (989 - 1052), a prominent politician and literatus who lived in the Northern Song dynasty, illustrates vividly the use of the hu tablet . Similar Ming dynasty ivory hu tablets are in the collections of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, the Sir Victor Sassoon Chinese Ivories Trust, and the Kwan collection. The comparably small size of this ivory hu tablet suggests that it might have been made earlier than the 16th century, as the sizes increased as the dynasty progressed - Very slightly chipped

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Export to countries outside the EU are subject to the restrictions of the UNESCO convention from 1970 and the European Agreement for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from 1993. Moreover, the cites regulations are applicable. Objects with materials such as ivory or tortoise shell require a permission for export into countries outside the EU contract area due to cites regulations. We point out that such a permission is usually not given. For exports within the EU the Act to Protect German Cultural Property against Removal (Kulturgutschutzgesetz) has been in force since 6th August 2016.


China/Asia

Eric Art Services
Beijing/Shanghai/Hong Kong et al.
Tel.: +86 10 8880 3001 (BJ)
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Tel.: +852 2204 1888 (HK)
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Otrans Transport GmbH
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Italy

Chiarelli Autotrasporti s.r.l.
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Tel.: +39 04 24 / 78 06 50
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France

Art Régie Transport.com
9, boulevard Biron
FRA-93400 Saint-Ouen
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 / 58 61 37 33
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Switzerland

Kraft E.L.S. AG
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Germany/Europe

Matthias Fegers
Service für Kunst und Handel
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A.V.M. Service und Transporte
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Tel.: 0172 / 71 36 254
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ART to move
Beuth & Esser GbR
Melchiorstr. 29
50670 Köln

June 12, 2023 9:30 AM CEST
Stuttgart, Germany

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0 € 19 € 5 €
20 € 179 € 10 €
180 € 299 € 20 €
300 € 359 € 30 €
360 € 399 € 40 €
400 € 899 € 50 €
900 € 999 € 100 €
1.000 € 1.999 € 100 €
2.000 € 2.999 € 200 €
3.000 € 3.599 € 300 €
3.600 € 3.999 € 400 €
4.000 € 9.999 € 500 €
10.000 € 19.999 € 1.000 €
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30.000 € 35.999 € 3.000 €
36.000 € 39.999 € 4.000 €
40.000 € 99.999 € 5.000 €
100.000 € 199.999 € 10.000 €
200.000 € + 20.000 €