QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A VERY RARE GILT AND HARDSTONE EMBELLISHED SOAPSTONE ‘QILIN’ CENSER AND COVER
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The mythical beast is carved standing foursquare with its head raised, bearing a fierce expression with bulging eyes and mouth bared open to reveal its teeth and outstretched tongue. The cover is carved in the form of a mallet and is decorated with archaistic scrolls. The vessel is elaborately decorated overall with inlays carved from hardstones in various vivid tones.
7 5/8 in. (19.5 cm.) high, box

Provenance

Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27 April 2003, lot 40

Literature

Sotheby’s Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 353, no. 416

Brought to you by

Priscilla Kong

pkong@christies.cpm +852 29789958

Lot Essay

The most remarkable aspect of the present lot is that it is crafted in imitation of gilt-bronze vessels of the same form. Gilt-bronze counterparts include: one formerly from the Herbert R. Bishop Collection sold at Christie’s London, 15 June 1999, lot 105; one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 April 2000, lot 564; one included by the National Palace Museum in Gugong lidai xiangju tulu (Special Exhibition of Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties), Taipei, 1994, no. 119; and one in the British Museum, illustrated on the cover of the Catalogue for the Collection of Oriental Antiquities, London 1989.

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