A FINE CLOISONNE ENAMEL BIRD-FORM PRICKET CANDLESTAND

QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER INCISED MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A FINE CLOISONNE ENAMEL BIRD-FORM PRICKET CANDLESTAND
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER INCISED MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The white bird with gracefully arched long neck and spread wings grasping a pearl in its beak while standing atop a tortoise with two serpents beneath its body in the midst of spume-flecked waves crashing against four rocks which decorate the interior of the dish below an everted rim, with a band of petal lappets on the underside of the flared sides and raised on three ruyi supports, the pricket rising from a drip-pan with tiered sides
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high

Lot Essay

A pair of very similar candlestands dated to the Qianlong period is illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 138, no. 55. See, also, the similar example illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 43 - Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 159, no. 151, where the bird is referred to as a petrel, and the combination of the bird and the seawater pattern is said to symbolize ' peace reigns under heaven'.

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