Lot Essay
Falconry enjoyed imperial patronage in China for millennia where hawks were prized for their strength, intelligence, and hunting skills. On his travels to China in the 13th century, Marco Polo noted that Kublai Khan had a great passion for the sport employing 10,000 falconers. Falconry was practiced widely across Central and East Asia, India, Pakistan, the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf. During the Middle Ages, the sport was brought back to Europe by returning merchants, adventurers and crusaders.
In China, there are many cultural references to hawks and falcons in literature, poems and paintings. Models of the birds can also be found in porcelain and, more rarely, in cloisonne enamel. It is particularly unusual to find a pair of hawks in cloisonne enamel with a white ground. A single Qianlong period white-ground cloisonné enamel hawk is in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, inv. no. 64-29/2. A turquoise-ground cloisonne enamel hawk of similar form, size and date was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1874.