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Lot Essay
This superb pair of duck-form ewers is extremely rare and of exceptional quality. This very unusual model is based on earlier pieces. Although some similarly shaped ewers from the Han dynasty are known, the closest examples to the current lot are bronze pouring vessels dating from the Song dynasty. Two relevant examples are illustrated, one in the Catalogue of the exhibition 'Through the Prism of the Past - Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of the 16th to 18th century', National Palace Museum, Taipei, 12 December - 7 March 2003, p.63, pl.I39 ; another one from the V&A Museum, illustrated in R. Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, Victoria and Albert Museum - Far Eastern Series, London 1990, pp.16-17, pl.4 (see fig.1).
While the form of the current ewers is directly inspired by these earlier prototypes, the extremely refine enamelling, the brilliance of the gilding, the attention to details, make the actual pair powerful and superbly crafted interpretations.
Only one almost identical gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel duck-shaped ewer with an incised six-character Qianlong mark on the rim of the reservoir is known and kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. It is illustrated twice in Masterpieces of Chinese Enamel Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei 1971, pl.19; and in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei 1999, p.119, pl.42.
Another duck-shaped ewer, less elegant than the current pair and bearing an incised Qianlong four-character on the stomach, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong 2002, p.111, pl.107.
While the form of the current ewers is directly inspired by these earlier prototypes, the extremely refine enamelling, the brilliance of the gilding, the attention to details, make the actual pair powerful and superbly crafted interpretations.
Only one almost identical gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel duck-shaped ewer with an incised six-character Qianlong mark on the rim of the reservoir is known and kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. It is illustrated twice in Masterpieces of Chinese Enamel Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei 1971, pl.19; and in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei 1999, p.119, pl.42.
Another duck-shaped ewer, less elegant than the current pair and bearing an incised Qianlong four-character on the stomach, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong 2002, p.111, pl.107.