WHAT: A carved rhinoceros horn from 17th century China that sold recently in a James D. Julia auction for $56,288 is called a scholar’s cup. At 5½ inches high and a little over 7 inches wide, it is considered a large cup.
MORE: Such cups were carved using varied motifs. This version is a landscape with the overall theme of scholars at leisure, drinking tea and sharing literary insights. Note traditional themes, including pine tree branches, mountains, a scholar on horseback and rustics at work.
SMART COLLECTORS KNOW: The carved horn is a drinking vessel intended for ceremonial presentation.
HOT TIP: Desirable old rhino horn cups were carved in a number of styles. They sell for serious sums; depending on size, artistic appeal and condition, some start at $250,000 and up. Caveat: Fakes have been made in plastics and newer carved horn.
BOTTOM LINE: When the old, original cups were carved, rhinos were relatively plentiful. Today, just a handful of species survive and each is endangered. Some species have already been declared extinct. Poachers actively hunt the animals today because of demand for powdered horn as an aphrodisiac in the Far East.
Carved cups from the 17th and early 18th centuries are legal to sell, provided they are properly certified. Some collectors, repulsed by what the horns represent, refuse to buy, no matter how beautiful they are.
FYI: Weeks ago, we wrote about a basic wooden chair painted by J.K. Rowling. The chair, where she sat as she wrote the first two Harry Potter books, just sold to a private collector at Bonhams in New York City for $394,000!
