A RARE PAIR OF UNDERGLAZE BLUE STAG'S HEAD WALL TROPHIES

19TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE PAIR OF UNDERGLAZE BLUE STAG'S HEAD WALL TROPHIES
19th century
The young bucks modelled with heads held forward, their eyes biscuit with black-glazed pupils and their teeth and eyelids glazed white, their coats picked out in incised fur markings and their removable antler tips with one short, curving branch, mounted on wood plaques
21in. (53.3cm.) high, the porcelain (2)

Lot Essay

This very rare model represents a fascinating intersection of the European hunting trophy tradition and the Chinese reverence for deer as sacred. The deer in Chinese art symbolizes wealth and longevity, and is often shown alongside the sacred fungus, which only he can root out. The only related pair of trophy heads published seems to be the spotted stags set on porcelain plaques with oak leaf collars that were sold Christie's New York, the Thomas Mellon Evans collection, 18 June 1998.

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