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拍品專文
The present pair of cloisonné enamel palace lanterns reflects the remarkable expansion in both technical sophistication and decorative ambition achieved during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. In contrast to earlier periods, when cloisonné decoration was dominated by formalized floral and archaistic motifs, the Qianlong imperial workshops developed a far richer decorative vocabulary, incorporating increasingly complex figural subjects and thereby marking a high point in the artistic maturity of Qing cloisonné production. While cloisonné vessels survive in considerable number, examples featuring elaborate figural decoration remain exceedingly rare; palace lanterns adorned with boy attendants, and rarer still preserved as a pair, appear to be virtually unrecorded.
Constructed on substantial copper bodies, each lantern is conceived with a square upper section articulated by strong and crisply defined cloisons. The four sides are inset with painted glass panels decorated with lotus blooms and medallions enclosing the character shou (longevity), executed in brilliant pigments of exceptional freshness. The present pair survives in notably fine condition and, having remained together, retains a particularly strong sense of its original imperial context.
Palace lanterns of this type were employed both as functional illumination and as important decorative furnishings within palace architecture, typically arranged along the sides of major halls. By virtue of its technical refinement, rare figural ornament, and unmistakably courtly character, the present pair may be confidently attributed to the imperial workshops and should be regarded as an exceptional example of Qianlong-period cloisonné made for imperial use, very likely for the emperor’s personal appreciation.
A closely related pair of cloisonné enamel lanterns with painted glass panels was sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1617. Another comparable pair, of slightly more pagoda-like silhouette but similarly fitted with painted glass panels, was sold at Christie’s London, 4 November 2014, lot 303. See also a related hanging lantern suspended with beaded chains illustrated in situ in Palaces of the Forbidden City (Hong Kong, 1986), p. 304, pl. 455, together with two further related examples illustrated in pls. 456–457.
Constructed on substantial copper bodies, each lantern is conceived with a square upper section articulated by strong and crisply defined cloisons. The four sides are inset with painted glass panels decorated with lotus blooms and medallions enclosing the character shou (longevity), executed in brilliant pigments of exceptional freshness. The present pair survives in notably fine condition and, having remained together, retains a particularly strong sense of its original imperial context.
Palace lanterns of this type were employed both as functional illumination and as important decorative furnishings within palace architecture, typically arranged along the sides of major halls. By virtue of its technical refinement, rare figural ornament, and unmistakably courtly character, the present pair may be confidently attributed to the imperial workshops and should be regarded as an exceptional example of Qianlong-period cloisonné made for imperial use, very likely for the emperor’s personal appreciation.
A closely related pair of cloisonné enamel lanterns with painted glass panels was sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1617. Another comparable pair, of slightly more pagoda-like silhouette but similarly fitted with painted glass panels, was sold at Christie’s London, 4 November 2014, lot 303. See also a related hanging lantern suspended with beaded chains illustrated in situ in Palaces of the Forbidden City (Hong Kong, 1986), p. 304, pl. 455, together with two further related examples illustrated in pls. 456–457.