RARE ET IMPORTANTE TABLE EN EMAUX CLOISONNES

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COLLECTION OF THE BARONESS CARMEN THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, director and Vice President of the Board of Trustees of The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, has long been devoted to the cultural preservation of the arts. Her father, an industrial engineer and businessman, was also an accomplished painter and collector of Catalan paintings. From the time she was a child, her family cultivated the Baroness’s love of the arts. Internationally educated and well-traveled, the Baroness was exposed to a vast array of cultures with distinct artistic traditions, fostering her love of art from all corners of the world. In 1985 the Baroness married Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza, a businessman and devoted art collector, reigniting her childhood passion and catalyzing an even deeper commitment to the arts. The marriage of the Baron and Baroness not only merged two families, but also joined their two distinctive collections into a comprehensive group of more than 1,200 works, including paintings by renowned artists such as Titian, Van Gogh and Picasso. With her husband at her side, the Baroness elegantly stepped into the role as co-caretaker of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family collection, focusing mainly on nineteenth and twentieth century North American and European painting, including select works of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Expressionism. Together they continued to build what was to become one of the most revered art collections in Europe. Housed in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid since 1992, the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection boasts Western art works spanning from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries, as well as works from Asia and beyond. The Baroness has a special fondness for Asian works of art and furniture, which fill her home. This present cloisonné table illustrates her keen eye for Asian art and her commitment to collecting at the highest level in every field. Until recently, this piece remained in pride of place in her home alongside other works from her personal collection.

RARE ET IMPORTANTE TABLE EN EMAUX CLOISONNES

CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, FIN DU XVIIEME SIECLE

Details

RARE ET IMPORTANTE TABLE EN EMAUX CLOISONNES
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, FIN DU XVIIEME SIECLE
Reposant sur quatre pieds, le plateau carré légèrement polylobé est orné au centre de cinq dragons aux corps noueux entremêlés à l'intérieur d'un cartouche en forme de fleur réservé sur fond de motifs géométriques. Chaque côté du plateau est rehaussé de deux dragons confrontés autour d'une fleur de lotus dans un cartouche. La ceinture est rehaussée sur chaque face de deux dragons de face volant parmi des nuages dans des cartouches réservés sur fond de rinceaux de lotus ; structure et socle en bois postérieurs.

Hauteur totale: 49 cm. (19 ¼ in.), Largeur: 67 cm. (26 3/8 in.), Profondeur: 67 cm. (26 3/8 in.), socle en bois

Provenance

With Mount Street Galleries, London, 1981.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country. This item will be transferred to an offsite warehouse after the sale. Please refer to department for information about storage charges and collection details.

Further details

A RARE AND IMPORTANT CLOISONNE ENAMEL 'DRAGON' SQUARE TABLE
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, LATE 17TH CENTURY

Lot Essay

The present cloisonne table is extremely rare and only one other published example is known. See an almost identical cloisonne table in the Uldry collection, dated second half of the 17th century, illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, London, 1989, no. 182. The similarity between these two tables in their decoration and their later adapted wood structure strongly suggest that they were probably made as a pair. The present decoration combining this type of sophisticated dragons and the diaper ground is also quite extraordinary, compare with a rare cloisonne enamel incense stand, also dated second half of the 17th century, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London, 1970, pl. 65.

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