λ A VIETNAMESE IVORY SWORD HILT 18TH/19TH CENTURY Formed as a dragon's head with prunus branches...

λ A VIETNAMESE IVORY SWORD HILT

18TH/19TH CENTURY

Formed as a dragon's head with prunus branches and shou characters carved to both sides of the neck in shallow relief, 14cm.

Provenance: from the collection of Einer Bothmann Mengel (1879-1945). Mengel worked for the Great Northern Telegraph Company in Shanghai from 1901 and Foochow from 1904, later he became manager in Beijing, returning to Denmark in 1926.