Lot 68

PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF WINSTON F. C. GUEST Christie's is proud to offer a selection of Property Formerly in the Collection of Winston F. C. Guest. Born in England in 1906 and named after his godfather and father's best friend and cousin, Sir Winston Churchill, Winston Frederick Churchill Guest was raised in the company of great men. His father, Captain the Right Honourable Frederick E. Guest, a grandson of the Duke of Marlborough, was a Member of Parliament and held the post of Britain's first Secretary of State for Air. His mother, Amy Phipps, daughter of Henry Phipps of Pittsburgh who was a philanthropist and partner at Carnegie Steel Corporation, harnessed her resources to fulfill her deep interest in aviation and its value in the future of world transportation. Mr. Guest was not only a devoted student (while attending Yale University and Columbia Law School he developed fluency in French and Spanish), but also an avid sportsman and Polo Hall of Fame 10 Goal player. He later served as Captain in the United States Marine Corps in World War II and during his overseas travels began his exceptional collection. Many of the selected works were purchased by Mr. Guest in the 1940s, following the war, through close friend Ralph M. Chait, of Chait Galleries, and through C.T. Loo, also a predominant Chinese Art dealer of the period. In 1947, he married the love of his life, Lucy Douglas Cochrane, of Boston, known to family and friends as C.Z. - which stemmed from her young brother's attempt to call her 'sister'. Ernest Hemingway stood witness as best man at the ceremony in Havana, Cuba. Together, with their unbridled enthusiasm, high standards and unrivaled sense of style, the couple continued to collect with impeccable taste. The lots (68, 316, 327, 344 and 345) Formerly in the Collection of Winston F. C. Guest featured in this catalogue will now find new homes after years of serving the aesthetic needs of one of the most iconic taste-making couples of the 20th century in America.

A RARE PAIR OF IMPERIAL CARVED RED LACQUER PANELS

QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A RARE PAIR OF IMPERIAL CARVED RED LACQUER PANELS
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Each finely carved with a different scene of scholars or immortals and attendants in a mountainous lakeside retreat, on one several scholars accompanied by attendants, including one carrying a wrapped qin, wend their way along a path and a bridge in the foreground, while a number of scholars and attendants stand on the terrace of a large pavilion overlooking the lake, on the other panel a figure watches from a pavilion set on a jutting ledge overlooking the lake as an elderly scholar and his attendants cross a bridge towards a willow while two other scholars converse farther back on the path, all within a narrow key-fret border, the hardwood frame decorated with red lacquer carved with lotus panels reserved on a diaper ground, the reverse lacquered black
41¾ x 30 in. (106 x 76.2 cm.) (2)

Lot Essay

Carved red lacquer panels of Qianlong date of this large size must have been made for the Qing dynasty palaces. The quality of carving on these two panels is comparable to a tall, narrow hanging panel decorated with a gathering of scholars at the Lanting (Orchid Pavilion) illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 54 - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 209, no. 181. The carving and depiction of figures and pavilions in mountainous landscapes is also similar to that found on the large carved red lacquer three-panel throne screen of Qianlong date illustrated ibid., p. 237, no. 202. See, also, the large red lacquer table screen raised on a red lacquer stand, illustrated by Lu Yanzhen, ed., Art Treasures from Birthday Celebrations at the Qing Court, Hong Kong. The horizontal screen is carved with numerous pavilions and a pagoda above the shore and in the mountains of an island, and has a carved red lacquer frame very similar to those of the present panels. Another similarly carved large rectangular panel depicting a scene of the Lanting Xu within a carved red lacquer frame was sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 364.

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