CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, EPOQUE QIANLONG, CIRCA 1760-1770

Animal tureens such as the present lot were a very popular accompaniment to table services in wealthy households in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were almost certainly derived from European ceramic models, most likely the faience models produced by the Strasbourg factory in the mid-18th century. It has been suggested by scholars William Motley that the shorter neck and more naturalistic coloring of the present model pre-dates the more commonly-found long-neck goose tureens. See M. Cohen and W. Motley, Mandarin and Menagerie Volume I: The James E. Sowell Collection, Cohen & Cohen, London, 2008, p. 258 for a detailed description of the long-necked model.
See a pair of tureens of similar shape from the Tibor Collection sold in their online collection sale in New York, January 07, 2021 - January 20, 2021, lot 50. This pair was illustrated in W.R. Sargent, Chinese Porcelain in the Conde Collection, Madrid, 2014, p. 258 and exhibited in London, The Arts Council Gallery, The Animal in Chinese Art, 19 June-19 July 1968.