QIANLONG INCISED FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL PEN STAND
QIANLONG INCISED FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The stand is of subtle crescent shape, cast with five vertical lobes on the outer side corresponding with the five circular apertures at the top for insertion. The front is finely enamelled with five lotus sprays below gilt-bronze pendent trefoils. The reverse side is decorated with a single large lotus. The stand is raised on four tab feet and incised on the base with the reign mark.
2 3/4 in. (7.1 cm.) wide

Provenance

Sold at Christie's Paris, 15 June 2005, lot 111
M & C Gallery, Hong Kong, 2005

Literature

Reverence and Perfection: Magnificent Imperial Cloisonné Enamels from a Private European Collection, Hong Kong, 2013, no. 41

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Lot Essay

The present pen stand, with its unusual shape comprising five apertures, is very rare and no other similar example appears to have been published. However its design and decorative style are closely related to a crescent-shaped brush rest, in the form of a three-peaked mountain, also with a Qianlong mark, in the Palace Museum Collection and illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (3) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pl. 45; and another similar brush rest, illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, 1989, pl. 273.

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