A SUPERB 'DOUBLE-PHOENIX' KESI
THE DECORATIVE INTERIOR PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
A SUPERB 'DOUBLE-PHOENIX' KESI

Details
A SUPERB 'DOUBLE-PHOENIX' KESI
LATE MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Formed of three rectangular panels, the details picked out in shades of green, orange, mustard-yellow, blue and gold silk threads against a navy blue ground, depicting a pair of archaistic phoenix encircling a central peony flower-head, each phoenix exquisitely detailed with a ruyi crest and long tasselled tail feathers, amidst the sanduo, 'Three abundances': finger citrus, peaches and pomegranate, all below a frieze of smaller similar confronted phoenix divided by a spray of lotus, bordered by key-frets
72 x 78 in. (182.8 x 198 cm.) framed

Lot Essay

Comparable long-tailed phoenix birds depicted on a kesi panel dated to 17th century, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is illustrated by W. Watson, Art of Dynastic China, Thames and Hudson, 1981, no. 184. For a Ming dynasty depiction of an archaistic phoenix medallion, probably a prototype for the present lot, see ibid., no. 690, from the Metropolitan Museum.

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