QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A RARE PAIR OF CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL ARCHAISTIC TRIPOD EWERS AND COVERS, HE
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Each globular body is decorated with three pairs of small confronted birds above each of the three large taotie masks positioned above the legs that are surmounted by gilt animal masks. Further taotie masks are on the shoulder, and dragons on the neck, and a large flower head is on the flat base, all on a ground of gilt wire leiwen. The domed cover is similarly decorated below a gilt Buddhist lion seated with a brocade ball.
9 in. (23 cm.) high

Provenance

Christie's London, 2 April 1979, lot 35.
Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., New York, 1995.

Exhibited

Religion and Ritual in Chinese Art, Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., New York, 8 - 22 December 1987, no. 48.

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Lot Essay

The shape of these ewers is based on earlier bronze prototypes, such as the bronze he found in Beijing, illustrated in Wenwu, 1982:9, p. 36, fig. 2, no. 5, and again p. 43, fig. 49. Although the body of the present he is more rounded, the vessels have similar legs and domed cover, as well as an animal mask at the top of the handle. A woodblock print of a bronze he of this type, with taotie masks on the body, is illustrated in Xiqing Gujian, originally compiled in 1749, vol. 31, no. 33.
The present ewers may also be compared to Qing dynasty blue and white examples, such as the ewer and cover in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Book II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 21, which is dated to the Qianlong period.

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