QIANLONG PREIOD (1736-1795)

Details

AN EXTREMELY RARE PAIR OF IMPERIAL ZITAN SQUARE LANTERNS
QIANLONG PREIOD (1736-1795)
Each finely carved with flared openwork crown carved with descending bats above a pierced waist and continuing on the openwork scroll shoulder. The center section with upper and lower openwork borders joined by slender knopped columns at the corners that frame the recessed panels. The waisted foot is similarly decorated as the crown and raised on ruyi-head feet.
28 7/8 in. (73.4 cm.) high, 14 in. (35.6 cm.) square (2)

Provenance

The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, prior to 1978.
The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part I, Christie's New York, 17 March 2015, lot 52
The Heveningham Hall Collection

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Lot Essay

A very similar lantern from the imperial wedding chamber in the Palace of Earthly Repose is illustrated by Wen Wan-go and Yang Boda, Treasures of the Forbidden City, London, 1982, p. 56. The intricate openwork lattice work and columns mirror architectural elements found on doors and windows within the Imperial palaces. One of a set of four very similar lanterns from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, almost certainly from the same workshops, is illustrated by Sarah Handler, “Carriers of Light: The Chinese Lampstand and Lantern,” Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Summer 1994, p. 32. The author notes that many of the smaller openwork elements are likely to have employed smaller pieces of unused zitan timber from larger pieces of furniture.

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