An antique Vietnamese Cham silver offering bowl, finely decorated in repousse with four human figures/dancers with bird-like faces, interspersed with four sets of two intertwined phoenix images. The shoulder has four serpents/nagas interspersed with four cloud motifs. The neck and base decorated with scrolling wave motifs. An extremely rare bowl of exquisite workmanship. Champa, 18th/19th century or possibly earlier, 9.5 cm high, 13 cm diameter, 161 grams. Provenance: Private Collection, Melbourne. Acquired in HO Chi Minh city September 1995. Originally acquired in 1987 in Danang, central Vietnam, the heartland of the Champa Kingdom. Note: a similar bowl (lot 23) sold at Gallerie Zacke, Vienna auction of 'Precious objects from the lost Kingdoms of Southeast Asia' on 4 December 2020 for Eur 4,880 (A$7,900 at the time). Another (though inferior) bowl is in the collection of the Vietnam historical Museum, HO Chi Minh city, illustrated in the catalogue 'Champa Collection', published by the Museum in 1994, item 104, p.90.