QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Compare the pair of cloisonné enamel magpies of this type, also shown with head held in a similar position, and standing on a perch supported on a cloisonné base, illustrated by Gunhild Avitable in Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland: Chinesische und japanische Cloisonné-und Champlevé-Arbeiten, von 1400 bis 1900, Frankfurt am Main, 1981, p. 179, pl. 100, where they are dated to the 18th century. See, also, the cloisonné and champlevé enamel magpie with very similarly executed feathers, but shown with wings spread, dated to the Qianlong period, illustrated by Bèatrice Quette (ed.) in Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, 2011, p. 277, no. 105.