A RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BOY TRIBUTE BEARER

细节

A RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BOY TRIBUTE BEARER
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Kneeling on one knee, the figure is modelled with a smiling expression supporting a baluster vase decorated with cloisonne enamels to depict bats in flight amidst ruyi clouds against a purple enamel ground, the boy is wearing a vest covering the protruding belly enamelled with floral blossoms within a diaper-ground, the pantaloons detailed with flower-blooms and butterflies against a turquoise enamel ground, the face and upper body gilded, the torso adorned with an auspicious ruyi-head pendant
7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm.), wood stand

拍品专文

Secular gilt-bronze figures embellished with cloisonné enamels are rare. Compare with a cloisonné figure of a boy on a hobby horse from the R. H. R. Palmer Collection, illustrated by H. Garner, The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1933-57, vol. 30, fig. 328. It has been suggested that from the 17th century onward there was a tendency to break away from the more formal styles and gilt-bronze subjects such as these figures were treated in a naturalistic manner, op. cit., p. 51. Compare also a related kneeling figure, dated to the Kangxi period, modelled as a foreign tribute bearer sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1999, lot 561.

For a group of Buddhist images decorated in this unusual format of using both gilding and cloisonné enamels from the Qianlong period, cf. a figure of Manjusri, illustrated by Shen Zhiyu (ed.), The Shanghai Museum of Art, Cultural Relics Publishing, 1981, no. 231; an acolyte and a monk both in the Clague Collection, illustrated by C. Brown, Chinese Cloisonne, pls. 47 and 65 respectively; and a figure of the Panchen Lama, illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, fig. 346; and a seated Syamatara sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1998, lot 1026.