A RARE PAIR OF UNUSUAL FAMILLE ROSE LADY-FORM WALL CANDLE HOLDERS

JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)

Details

A RARE PAIR OF UNUSUAL FAMILLE ROSE LADY-FORM WALL CANDLE HOLDERS
JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)
Each is modeled in mirror image in the form of a lady standing on a base in the form of a horned three-clawed dragon-carp in roiling waves. Each lady is dressed in loose robes decorated with flower blossoms, and holds with both hands a lobed vase-form candle holder. The flat backs are pierced with three small holes.
13 ½ in. (34.3 cm.) high

Provenance

Mary Stillman Harkness (1874-1952) Collection.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accessioned in 1950.

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Lot Essay

Wall-mounted figural candle holders are very rare, particularly those with dragon-carp-form bases, such as the present pair. Another pair of lady-form candle holders, but with lotus-pod-form bases, is illustrated by M. Cohen and W. Motley in Mandarin and Menagerie, Chinese and Japanese Export Ceramic Figures, Volume I: The James E. Sowell Collection, Surrey, 2008, p. 103, no. 5.4. Another pair, but comprising a gentleman and lady, was sold at Christie's New York, 26 January 2006, lot 41.

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