Details
A FINELY CARVED BAMBOO PARFUMIER
QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Of wide cylindrical form, the exterior deeply carved in layered reticulation with twenty-nine writhing chilong, their long sinuous bodies overlapping with ridged spines terminating in bifurcated tails, each of their heads surmounted by a single large horn, their faces with fierce expressions baring their teeth, facing in different directions including two full-facing beasts
8 1/4 in. (21.1 cm.) high
Provenance
Acquired in London in the 1960's

Lot Essay

A number of comparable perfume holders have been published. A cylinder in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection with similarly rounded relief carving of the chilong is illustrated by C. Clunas, Chinese Carving, London, 1996, p. 46, fig. 45. The author attributes this piece to the Jinling tradition of carving on account of the low-relief carving with rounded edges. Another comparable but narrower cylinder with very similarly depicted chilong is illustrated by P. Moss, The Literati Mode, London, 1986, no. 51.

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