Lot Essay
The casting style of the present figure and its distinctive trapezoid throne indicate that it belongs to a group of similar figures bearing cyclical dates along the bottom of the rectangular frame of the throne, produced to commemorate birthday celebrations of Qianlong and the Emperess Dowager. Compare to a gilt-bronze figure dated to the gengyin year, corresponding to 1770, from the Avery Brundage collection, now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by T. Bartholomew, 'Sino-Tibetan Art of the Qianlong Period from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco', Orientations, June, 1991, fig. 13; it has been mentioned that the figure was made for the Empress Dowager's eightieth birthday, ibid, p. 41.