QIANLONG (1736-95)

Details

A PAIR OF LARGE EXPORT FIGURES OF CRANES
QIANLONG (1736-95)
Finely modelled with heads turned sharply to the left and right with their opposite feet raised on tall rockwork mounds, each enamelled in bianco-sopra-bianco with naturalistic feather markings, picked out on the wing feathers with delicate black details, the long tail feathers alternately black and white and similar black feathers running from the red crest along the back of the slender neck to broader feathers fanned across the shoulder, the long slender beak also enamelled black, the legs and claws under a mottled green glaze and the rockwork a lustrous chocolate brown
19½ in. (49.9 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

1931 - the pair of cranes is recorded as being in the Saloon designed by Alfred Waterhouse, Eaton Hall, Cheshire.
1957 - the pair of cranes is recorded as being at Eaton Lodge, Eaton, Cheshire (residence of Anne, Duchess of Westminster (widow of the 2nd Duke), one having been taken to Bourdon House, London (residence of the 2nd Duke of Westminster) after 1931, and reunited with its pair some time before April 1957.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

These cranes are of exceptional size. A single crane of this size is in the Gill Collection (exhibited The Chinese Porcelain Company, Chinese Export Porcelain including Figures from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gill, 10 - 26 October 2002, catalogue no. 40). However most large figures of cranes of this type are indeed only approximately 43 cm. in height, and many of these are modelled with longer serpentine necks.

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