A PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL CAPARISONED ELEPHANTS

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A PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL CAPARISONED ELEPHANTS
18TH/19TH CENTURY

Each blue-gray body inlaid with wavy gilded wires representing the wrinkled hide, the blankets and gu-form vases surmounting their backs decorated with lotus scrolls in blue and turquoise enamel and the trappings inlaid with turquoise-color beads, beads replaced, one tusk replaced, loss of enamel to one ear--9¾in. (24.8cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

A pair of similar elephants is illustrated in Daily Life in the Forbidden City, 1988, pl. 86, shown flanking a throne in the Eastern Warm Chamber in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the Empress Cixi summoned ministers to audiences during the reigns of Tongzhi and Guangxu