A PAIR OF CHINESE GILT-BRONZE, CLOISONNE AND CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL ELEPHANT AND VASE GROUPS

QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARKS CAST IN RELIEF WITHIN A SQUARE PLAQUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736 - 1795)

Details

A PAIR OF CHINESE GILT-BRONZE, CLOISONNE AND CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL ELEPHANT AND VASE GROUPS
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARKS CAST IN RELIEF WITHIN A SQUARE PLAQUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736 - 1795)
Each well-cast elephant with head turned to the side, the richly gilded body arrayed in rich trappings inset with glass beads, and with a fringed blanket decorated with red bats in flight amidst clouds above waves draped over the back beneath layered cloths covering the saddle from which rises a baluster vase decorated with a central band of lotus scroll below a band of petal lappets, the plaque with the mark applied to the belly of each elephant
10½ in. (26.7 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 1 July 1969, lot 31.

Lot Essay

The elephant was the embodiment of strength, wisdom and intelligence and the vase represented eternal harmony. As such, elephants with vases on their backs were put beside the throne to symbolize universal peace. A pair of blue cloisonné elephants with vases on their backs can be seen flanking the elaborate throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden Palace, Beijing, in a photograph illustrated in Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1989, p. 46.

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