QIANLONG

A similar 'pedicure' group is in the Copeland Collection at the Peabody Museum, Salem, illustrated by William R. Sargent, op.cit., no.59, pp.130 and 131, and front cover, having been purchased in our Monaco Rooms, 20 June 1988, lot 236. The author mentions related groups depicting men and women at everyday activities, such as ear-cleaning (see previous lot), wine drinking, smoking and music lessons, all of which he suggests are preliminary to sexual advances. He points out that in each case there is veiled eroticism, e.g. the young maiden with her leg exposed, as in this group, or with the man in a suggestive pose. Two similar groups are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, one of which is illustrated by C.J.A. Jörg, Chinese Ceramics, 1997, no.256, p.226. Similar groups have been sold in these Rooms, 13 October 1975, lot 152, 15 May 1978, lot 158, 14 November 1984, lot 617, 15 June 1987, lot 178, and 23 April 1990, lot 127.