PROPERTY FROM A CHINESE FAMILY COLLECTION
AN IMPERIAL IVORY INLAID CINNABAR LACQUER WALL PANEL

Details
AN IMPERIAL IVORY INLAID CINNABAR LACQUER WALL PANEL
QIANLONG CYCLICAL GUISI DATE, CORRESPONDING TO 1773 AND OF THE PERIOD

Of rectangular form, the black lacquer ground variously inlaid with finely carved stained ivory, rose quartz, jade and porcelain to depict antiques and auspicious objects including a sculptural group of scholars and children in a garden landscape supported on a stand, an archaic covered censer, a seal box, a group of scrolls tied with a ribbon behind a porcelain vase containing flowering peach branches and a coupe of fruit and several musical instruments, all below an Imperial inscription followed by two seals reading: Qianlong Chenhan, 'Imperial Writing of Emperor Qianlong' and Weijing Weiyi, 'The most refined and unique', below seven carved polychrome lacquer lappets, each incorporating an indented panel with a Shou character surrounded by a group of five bats amidst ruyi-heads and foliate motifs, all within a cinnabar lacquer frame carved with a trellis-ground in relief and alternate Wan characters, interspersed with bats and floral scrolls
27 7/8 x 25 7/8 in. (70.8 x 65.8 cm.)

Provenance
Acquired by the present collector in the 1960s

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Lot Essay

The imperial Qianlong poem of five-character and seven-character stanza is published in Qing Gaozong Yuzhi Shiwen Quanji, 'An Anthology of Imperial Poetry and Prose Composed by Gaozong of the Qing Period', juan 9, no. 23, under the title, Guisi Chuntie Zi, 'Spring Invitation for the Guisi Year'. At the age of sixty-two, Qianlong composed this poem in the early spring after the sacrificial ceremony commemorating his ancestors, wishing for political and social stability as well as a favourable turn of events. The text corresponds well with the various auspicious motifs on the panel represented by the Shou, 'Longevity', characters. In addition, the formation of the five bats or wufu signifies the five blessings of long life, wealth, health, love of virtue and a natural death.

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