AN IMPORTANT IMPERIAL BRONZE HEAD OF A MONKEY FROM THE ZODIAC FOUNTAIN IN THE YUANMING YUAN

Details

AN IMPORTANT IMPERIAL BRONZE HEAD OF A MONKEY FROM THE ZODIAC FOUNTAIN IN THE YUANMING YUAN
QIANLONG

Adopted from the design for the spectacular zodiac fountain by Giuseppe Castiglione, the sculpture of the monkey is well cast with short pricked ears, the face smooth with forward-looking eyes and open mouth containing even rows of teeth, framed by a chased surface resembling fur in a dark brown patina
18 in. (45.7 cm.) high, stand

Provenance

Messrs. Stuart Blaine and Robert Booth.

Literature

Peintres Jesuites en Chine au XVIIIe Siecle, M. Beurderley, Anthese, Acrueil Cedex, 1997, p. 159.
Orientations, 'Castiglione and the Yuanming Yuan Collections', V. Siu, November, 1988, fig. 6.

Exhibited

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1980-1981.

Lot Essay

Previously sold in New York, 9 October 1987, lot 134.

Compare the style in which the present bronze head is modelled with paintings of monkeys by Giuseppe Castiglione, such as the painting on silk entitled The White Monkey, in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, illustrated by C. and M. Beurdeley, Giuseppe Castiglione: A Jesuit Painter at the Court of the Chinese Emperors, frontispiece; a detail of which is illustrated here.

The present bronze head would have spouted water between the hours of three to five o'clock in the afternoon.

(US$500,000-580,000)

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