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Lot Essay
In 1931, Lady Lucy Houston made a private donation of GBP100,000 to the British team for the Schneider Trophy seaplane race, after the British Government withdrew their support. As a result, the British team were able to compete and went on to win the race, setting a world speed record. The seaplane used in this race was then adapted for the Ministry of Defence to produce the Supamarine Spitfire, as used in World War II.
An identical pair of peacocks, from the estate of the late Lady Angela Collingwood, was sold in Sotheby's London, 3 June 1975, lot 128, when they were catalogued as of the Qianlong period.
Compare also the similar peacock formerly in the Mottahedeh Collection which is of smaller size and modelled standing on a prunus branch stump; see Howard and Ayers, China for the West, London and New York, 1978, vol.II, no. 635, p.608. Another, possibly the pair to the Mottahedeh example, is illustrated by E. Gordon, Collecting Chinese Export Porcelain, London, 1978, no.83, where it is dated to the Qianlong period.
An identical pair of peacocks, from the estate of the late Lady Angela Collingwood, was sold in Sotheby's London, 3 June 1975, lot 128, when they were catalogued as of the Qianlong period.
Compare also the similar peacock formerly in the Mottahedeh Collection which is of smaller size and modelled standing on a prunus branch stump; see Howard and Ayers, China for the West, London and New York, 1978, vol.II, no. 635, p.608. Another, possibly the pair to the Mottahedeh example, is illustrated by E. Gordon, Collecting Chinese Export Porcelain, London, 1978, no.83, where it is dated to the Qianlong period.