QIANLONG

Pairs of Chinese court lady candleholders were quite fashionable in the second half of the 18th century; they are found in varying sizes and with varying detail. Their inspiration must have been the late 17th century Japanese Kakiemon Bijin figures, also modelled standing in their colorful robes with high topknots, holding vases or sake bottles. See Christie's London, 17 November 1998, lot 11, or another, from the Jenyns collection, illustrated in Porcelain for Palaces: The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750, pl. 165; and J.P. Van Goidsenhove, La Céramique Chinoise sous les Tsing, Bruxelles, 1936, no. 210.