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Lot Essay
The elephant is the embodiment of strength, wisdom and intelligence, and the vase represents eternal harmony. The combination of the two conveys the rebus taiping youxiang, ‘peaceful times’or ‘when there is peace, there are signs'.
A pair of cloisonné enamel caparisoned elephants of a colour similar to that of the present pair, which also supports vase, is seen flanking a throne in a photograph of The Eastern Warming Chamber in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the Empress Dowager Cixi summoned ministers to audiences, illustrated by Wan Yi et al. in Daily Life in the Forbidden City, New York, 1988, p. 64, pl. 86.
A pair of cloisonné enamel caparisoned elephants of a colour similar to that of the present pair, which also supports vase, is seen flanking a throne in a photograph of The Eastern Warming Chamber in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the Empress Dowager Cixi summoned ministers to audiences, illustrated by Wan Yi et al. in Daily Life in the Forbidden City, New York, 1988, p. 64, pl. 86.