TWO CLOISONNE ENAMEL QILIN

QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

TWO CLOISONNE ENAMEL QILIN
QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
Each qilin is strongly cast standing four-square on stout legs with gilt hooves and raised head. Each animal has long gilt whiskers, horns, furry eyebrows and beard and bushy tail. The gilt flaring mane forms a detachable cover at the back of the head above the spiky spine. The face is decorated with red squares reserved on a blue ground with bulging eyes, snout-like nose and opened mouth exposing sets of gilt teeth and tongue. The body is colourfully covered with green and turquoise scales.
10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm.) long (2)

Exhibited

The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, Five Colors: Chinese Vessels on Loan from the Mandel Family Collection, 28 August 2010-19 June 2011

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Lot Essay

Compare with a single cloisonne figure of a standing qilin from the Qing Court Collection illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 168, no. 160. The qilin, which resembles a stag, is an auspicious symbol of longevity, fertility and wise administration as it only appears during the reign of a benevolent ruler. It is also associated with the Confucian virtue of ren, as it is benevolent to all living creatures. Sometimes the qilin is shown carrying a young boy on its back as it is also believed to be a bringer of illustrious sons, see for example a pair of cloisonne qilin bearing young boy formerly in the T.B. Kitson Collection, sold at Sotheby's London, 7 June 1967, lot 268; and the pair from the Mandel Collection offered in this sale at lot 3914.

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