QIANLONG (1736-95)

Details

A COMMEMORATIVE RED, BLACK AND BROWN LACQUER RECTANGULAR PANEL
Qianlong (1736-95)
Finely carved to depict the victorious army of General Agui advancing through the mountains of Sichuan and laying waste the stone forts of the rebel forces, the sky with an inner panel enclosing a long inscription describing the campaign, all within a frame carved with dragons contesting flaming pearls amidst clouds, the reverse painted in gold and red with auspicious emblems and bats amidst clouds on a black lacquer diaper ground
24 5/8 in. x 39 3/8 in. (62.5 x 100 cm.)

Provenance

Christie's New York, 21 March 2000, lot 70
Spink and Son Ltd., 1983, cat. no. 3

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

A similar panel is illustrated by D. Clifford, Chinese Carved Lacquer, London, 1992, p.125, pl.99, where the author notes that the panel shows the campaign of General Agui, sent in 1771 to suppress an uprising in the mountains of Sichuan. Agui was appointed to the Grand Council in 1763, and his family raised from the Manchu plain blue banner rank to the plain white banner rank. In 1764 he was appointed acting Governer General of Sichuan and despatched there to investigate reports of disturbances. There was an uprising in West Sichuan in 1771 and the powerful chieftains in this mountianous region defended their strategic passes with massive stone forts, which took Agui five years to conquer, and the last chieftains surrendered in 1776. The victorious was greeted by the Qianlong emperor personally upon his return to Beijing.

More from Chinese Ceramics & Chinese Export Ceramics & Works of Art

View All