A RARE IMPERIAL GILT AND ENAMELLED PORCELAIN ALTAR ORNAMENT
A RARE IMPERIAL GILT AND ENAMELLED PORCELAIN ALTAR ORNAMENT

Details
A RARE IMPERIAL GILT AND ENAMELLED PORCELAIN ALTAR ORNAMENT
QIANLONG GILT SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Moulded as a Buddhist Wheel of Law, the emblem is supported on a spreading plinth with lotus petals in high relief, in imitation of a gilt-bronze or gold original, the reticulated wheel at the centre enriched with turquoise, coral and sapphire-blue enamels to simulate their hardstone counterparts, the mandorla surround relief moulded with Lamaist iconography
10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm.) high, Japanese wood box
Provenance
A private Japanese collection

Lot Essay

A similar Qianlong-marked example was included in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Special Exhibition of Qing Monochromes, 1981, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 74; another from the Nanjing Museum was included in The Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong exhibition, Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, Catalogue no. 71; and a pair was offered in these Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 27 April 1997, lot 45. Another porcelain Wheel of Law can be seen in situ on an altar inside the Fanhua Lou, Building of Buddhist Brilliance, an important Tibetan Buddhist structure built in the late Qianlong period at the northern end of the Ningshou Gong, illustrated in the Catalogue to The Field Museum exhibition, Splendors of China's Forbidden City, The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, 2004, fig. 163.

Compare also to two Jiaqing marked examples, in the Weishaupt Collection, illustrated by G. Avitable, From the Dragon's Treasure, London, 1987, fig. 1; and another sold in these Rooms, 4 November 1996, lot 747.

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