LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE CHINESE LACQUERED 'SHOU' PANEL
LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY
The panel depicts a large gilt-lacquered shou, character in relief to the centre, surrounded by iron-red and gilt bats in flight and clouds, the lacquered frame decorated with scrolling lotus blooms closed within shaped panels on a geometric wan ground
35 ½ x 52 1/8 in (90.2 x 132.5 cm.)

Special notice

All sold and unsold lots marked with a filled square in the catalogue that are not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the day of the sale, and all sold and unsold lots not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the fifth Friday following the sale, will be removed to the warehouse of ‘Cadogan Tate’. Please note that there will be no charge to purchasers who collect their lots within two weeks of this sale.

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Lot Essay

The shou character is itself a symbol of longevity, and is often seen on various forms of Chinese decorative art. The combination, as seen here, with bats and clouds add to the auspicious nature of the piece with bats (fu) representing 'blessings' and clouds (yun) being homophonous with 'fortune'.

The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) was known to inscribe large auspicious characters, which would be hung in the palace halls. The Chief Eunuch Li Lianying, for example, was painted seated in front of a hanging scroll depicting a large shou character written by Empress Cixi and bearing her seal in a similar format to that of the lacquer panel (see M. Warner, The Dragon Empress, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1972, p.183).

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