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Lot Essay
This spectacular pair of panels is exceptional for their massive size, masterful craftsmanship and the large-scale depictions of the deer and cranes within their landscape settings. Typically in cloisonné enamel wares, the figural subjects occupy a smaller space within a more vast landscape, as seen on the Qianlong-period double-sided panel of much smaller size decorated on one side with cranes in a landscape with pine trees in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, illustrated in Cloisonné, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, New York, 2011, p. 289, no 125 (side b). The large size of the deer and cranes and the tight cropping of the landscapes of the present panels enhance the dramatic visual impact and the sense of monumentality.
Panels, either as floor/table screens or wall-hangings, rendered in cloisonné enamel worked particularly well with scenes of mountainous landscapes, and were very popular during the Qianlong period. Such luxurious furnishings provided viewing enjoyment for the emperor and his concubines within the living halls of the palace complex. The choice of subject usually represented some kind of auspicious meaning. Deer and cranes symbolize long life, as they are both companions of Shoulao, the God of Longevity. Deer are known to live for a long time and are believed to be the only animals that can find the fungus of immortality, lingzhi, clusters of which are shown growing on the trunk of the pine tree in the panel decorated with cranes. In addition, the Chinese word for ‘deer’, lu, sounds like the word for ‘emolument’ or an official salary, and thus deer are symbolic of the rank and wealth that are associated with such a salary. The inclusion of cypress trees reinforces this wish since the Chinese word for ‘cypress’, bai (or bo), provides a rebus for ‘one hundred’, and the combination of deer and cypress suggest the wish bailing shilu (May you attain old age and continue to receive emolument). Finally, pairs of animals, in this case a pair of deer and a pair of cranes, can also symbolize a married couple. Taken together with the pine tree, which is an evergreen, they form the rebus helu tongchun (May the couple be forever young).
A champlevé enamel floor screen dated to the Qianlong period and featuring similar treatment of the pine trees, rocks and ground accented with sparse patches of grass, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Metal-Bodied Ware – 43 – The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong 2002, p. 140, no. 135, and again in The Complete Collection of Ming and Qing Furniture in the Palace Museum, vol. 19, Screen, Beijing, 2015, pp. 272-75, no. 89. Also illustrated, pp. 70-1, no. 22, is a xichi table screen inset with a cloisonné enamel panel decorated with a similar scene of a pair of cranes amidst pine in a mountainous landscape.
This decorative style originated from bird and flower paintings of the early Qing period, and was made popular by artists such as Shen Quan (1682-1760). An example of Shen Quan's painting in the Phoenix Art Museum, depicting a pair of cranes standing on a gnarled pine tree, is illustrated in Cloisonné, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, op. cit., p. 143, fig. 7.26.
Panels, either as floor/table screens or wall-hangings, rendered in cloisonné enamel worked particularly well with scenes of mountainous landscapes, and were very popular during the Qianlong period. Such luxurious furnishings provided viewing enjoyment for the emperor and his concubines within the living halls of the palace complex. The choice of subject usually represented some kind of auspicious meaning. Deer and cranes symbolize long life, as they are both companions of Shoulao, the God of Longevity. Deer are known to live for a long time and are believed to be the only animals that can find the fungus of immortality, lingzhi, clusters of which are shown growing on the trunk of the pine tree in the panel decorated with cranes. In addition, the Chinese word for ‘deer’, lu, sounds like the word for ‘emolument’ or an official salary, and thus deer are symbolic of the rank and wealth that are associated with such a salary. The inclusion of cypress trees reinforces this wish since the Chinese word for ‘cypress’, bai (or bo), provides a rebus for ‘one hundred’, and the combination of deer and cypress suggest the wish bailing shilu (May you attain old age and continue to receive emolument). Finally, pairs of animals, in this case a pair of deer and a pair of cranes, can also symbolize a married couple. Taken together with the pine tree, which is an evergreen, they form the rebus helu tongchun (May the couple be forever young).
A champlevé enamel floor screen dated to the Qianlong period and featuring similar treatment of the pine trees, rocks and ground accented with sparse patches of grass, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Metal-Bodied Ware – 43 – The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong 2002, p. 140, no. 135, and again in The Complete Collection of Ming and Qing Furniture in the Palace Museum, vol. 19, Screen, Beijing, 2015, pp. 272-75, no. 89. Also illustrated, pp. 70-1, no. 22, is a xichi table screen inset with a cloisonné enamel panel decorated with a similar scene of a pair of cranes amidst pine in a mountainous landscape.
This decorative style originated from bird and flower paintings of the early Qing period, and was made popular by artists such as Shen Quan (1682-1760). An example of Shen Quan's painting in the Phoenix Art Museum, depicting a pair of cranes standing on a gnarled pine tree, is illustrated in Cloisonné, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, op. cit., p. 143, fig. 7.26.