A RARE PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL CIRCULAR BOXES AND COVERS

THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR

Details

A RARE PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL CIRCULAR BOXES AND COVERS
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Each decorated with Shoulou seated with his deer in a roundel within a large Chun, 'Spring', character flanked by a pair of five-clawed dragons amidst clouds above a bowl of auspicious emblems, surrounded by a band of classic scroll and panels of scholars and attendants in landscapes with cranes and bamboo, divided by the Eight Precious Objects, babao, around the sides above key-pattern around the foot, the heads of the figures modelled in relief as gilt appliques, the base decorated with prunus blossom on a cracked-ice ground, all picked out in polychrome enamels reserved on a turquoise-ground, the interior gilt (minor losses)
8 1/8 in. (20.5 cm.) diam. (2)

Provenance

The Imperial Palace, Beijing, by family tradition since the 19th Century.

Lot Essay

The decorative theme of these boxes follow very closely to those executed in cinnabar lacquer dated to the same period, such as the example from the Avery Brundage Collection, illustrated by H. Garner, Chinese Lacquer, p. 148, fig. 90; and the polychrome lacquer box from the Manno Art Museum, offered in the sale, One Man's Vision, Important Chinese Art from the Manno Art Museum, 29 October 2002, lot 568.

The application of the finely rendered gilt-bronze heads provides a unique and unusual decorative addition to an otherwise smooth surface.

More from IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART

View All