QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

The technique of painted enamels is believed to have been introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries in the 18th century. These prized works of art were made both for the Emperor and for export to the West. Tatiana B. Arapova writes in Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Vol. 81, 2016-1017, p55, that the Dutch East India Company placed their first order for painted enamels in 1766. She cites Professor Jorg's research that from the 1760s painted enamels were listed at the large Amsterdam porcelain shop of Martha Raap, including wall scones for two candles. The present lot may be compared to the pair of wall scones from Anichkov Palace, residence of Emperor Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, now in the Hermitage Collection, St Petersberg, illustrated op.cit., fig. 9, p56. R.Soame Jenyns and William Watson write in Chinese Art, The Minor Arts, London, 1963, p 264, that 16 painted enamel wall scones, a pair of painted enamel candelabrum, illustrated fig 123, p264, a bureau and a mirror frame were ordered by the supercargo Lintrup of the Danish Asiatic Company in 1740 from Canton. A slightly smaller pair of 18th century painted enamel wall scones decorated with a female immortal sold at Christie's New York, 23-24 January 2002, lot 110.