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Lot Essay
Previously sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 15 May 1990, lot 367.
The current pair of boxes is extremely rare and the only comparable example appears to be a pair of oval boxes illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no. 288. The Uldry boxes are decorated around the shallow vertical sides with confronted kui dragons in cloisonné enamel.
Qianlong's fascination with European subjects is evident on this lot, as on numerous enamelled metalwares and porcelain pieces with similar romanticised vignettes of ladies and children. Not only are the decorative schemes on this group of enamelwares Western in origin, the manner in which they are painted, with distinctive flesh tones and the use of a certain amount of chiaroscuro, is also noticeably influenced by European painting styles. These new styles brought to China by the Jesuits, are characterised by a bolder use of colour and a more flamboyant attitude towards decorative themes, and they found considerable favour with the Qianlong emperor.
Compare the decoration of European ladies and children with that on other Beijing enamel pieces, such as the ewer and the jar, each painted with two panels of European people in outdoor setting from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, 1999, pls. 118 and 119 respectively; and with the examples in Beijing, illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 206, a champlevé enamel cup enclosing painted enamel vignettes of ladies, and pl. 208, a box with six scenes of ladies and children. Most European-subject pieces tend to depict the figures within idyllic landscape settings, whereas the present lot shows the figures indoors. Another rendition of the ladies in a domestic interior setting is found on two of the four panels on a Beijing enamel glass brushpot illustrated by H. Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 35; and on the small vase sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30 October 2002, lot 205.
Another unusual feature on the present boxes is the combination of painted and cloisonné enamels. Besides the Uldry boxes, this can be found on a few other Qianlong wares of varying sizes, such as the large gold, cloisonné and Beijing enamel ewer, illustrated by Moss, op. cit., pl. 26, from the National Palace Museum. Cf. also examples of with combined painted and champlevé enamels, such as the ewer, cup and saucer set from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated op. cit., pl. 156.
The current pair of boxes is extremely rare and the only comparable example appears to be a pair of oval boxes illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no. 288. The Uldry boxes are decorated around the shallow vertical sides with confronted kui dragons in cloisonné enamel.
Qianlong's fascination with European subjects is evident on this lot, as on numerous enamelled metalwares and porcelain pieces with similar romanticised vignettes of ladies and children. Not only are the decorative schemes on this group of enamelwares Western in origin, the manner in which they are painted, with distinctive flesh tones and the use of a certain amount of chiaroscuro, is also noticeably influenced by European painting styles. These new styles brought to China by the Jesuits, are characterised by a bolder use of colour and a more flamboyant attitude towards decorative themes, and they found considerable favour with the Qianlong emperor.
Compare the decoration of European ladies and children with that on other Beijing enamel pieces, such as the ewer and the jar, each painted with two panels of European people in outdoor setting from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, 1999, pls. 118 and 119 respectively; and with the examples in Beijing, illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 206, a champlevé enamel cup enclosing painted enamel vignettes of ladies, and pl. 208, a box with six scenes of ladies and children. Most European-subject pieces tend to depict the figures within idyllic landscape settings, whereas the present lot shows the figures indoors. Another rendition of the ladies in a domestic interior setting is found on two of the four panels on a Beijing enamel glass brushpot illustrated by H. Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 35; and on the small vase sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30 October 2002, lot 205.
Another unusual feature on the present boxes is the combination of painted and cloisonné enamels. Besides the Uldry boxes, this can be found on a few other Qianlong wares of varying sizes, such as the large gold, cloisonné and Beijing enamel ewer, illustrated by Moss, op. cit., pl. 26, from the National Palace Museum. Cf. also examples of with combined painted and champlevé enamels, such as the ewer, cup and saucer set from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated op. cit., pl. 156.