Page 284 - Sotheby's Important Chinese Art, Sept. 21-22, 2-21, NYC

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A RARE RED AND GILT-LACQUER PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN quantities during the late Ming period, and novel iterations
HANDWARMER A PAIR OF GOLD-SPLASHED BRONZE VASES continued to be developed during the Qing dynasty.
QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY 17TH / 18TH CENTURY Compare a similar pair of archaistic lei sold first in our
London rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 158, and later at Christie’s
of lobed compressed cushion form set with a conforming each well cast and modeled after archaic bronze lei, of Hong Kong, 25th November 2014, lot 3388. See a slightly
swing handle, the body finely decorated with gilt bats soaring baluster form rising from a spreading foot to a flaring neck larger example sold twice with us: first, in these rooms, 18th
around peach branches on a coral-red ground, surmounted set with a pair of high-relief chilong-form handles, the March 2014, lot 368, and subsequently in our London rooms,
by a wire mesh cover with a foliate peach design, the lip shoulder with a band of raised bosses with whorl motifs 17th May 2019, lot 437. Two further examples of this type,
decorated with a gold lozenge diaper pattern enclosing between bow-string bands, the exterior accented with with abstract chilong handles to the shoulder, include two
florets against a black ground, the flat base lacquered black, irregular splashes of gilding, the base with an apocryphal six- sold in our London rooms, the first, 17th October 1978, lot
metal liner (3) character Xuande mark (2) 128; the second, 11th December 1990, lot 44.
Width 6½ in., 16.5 cm Height 10⅛ in., 25.7 cm
Due to the low temperature tolerance of lacquer, lacquer $ 40,000-60,000
handwarmers are especially rare. Given the nature of the PROVENANCE
material and the absence of physical evidence of usage, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 2nd-3rd June 1976, lot 316. 十七 / 十八世紀 銅灑金螭龍耳瓶一對
Zhang Li from the Palace Museum, Beijing notes that lacquer Acquired by the grandfather of the present owner from the
handwarmers could have been made for display rather than above, and thence by descent. 《大明宣德年製》仿款
utilitarian purposes (see Yongzheng: Qing Shizong wen wu da The form of this pair of vases is based on a vessel type 來源：
zhan / Harmony and integrity: the Yongzheng Emperor and that developed during the late Shang dynasty, with a
his times, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, p. 274). characteristic double-handled and narrow-neck shape. 蘇富比 Parke Bernet，紐約，1976年6月2至3日，編號
Compare three related lacquer handwarmers: one in the Known as lei, these vessels were frequently decorated 316
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, with handles in the form of real or mythical animals and 現任藏家祖父購於上述處，此後家族傳承
Washington, D.C., (acc. no. S1987.403a-b), and two in had horizontal rings around the body. Archaistic vessels
the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in with gold-splashed decoration were made in considerable
Zhongguo qiqi quanji, 6 ce: Qing / Lacquer Treasures from
220 China, vol. 6: Qing dynasty, Fuzhou, 1993, pls 14 and 41.
⊖ $ 20,000-30,000

清十八 / 十九世紀 朱漆描金福壽雙全紋手爐

221

PROPERTY OF AN ASIAN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR
A SMALL ARCHAISTIC GOLD AND SILVER-
INLAID BRONZE VASE
MING DYNASTY
in the form of a lei, the baluster body rising from a rounded
foot to a waisted neck and galleried rim, set at the shoulder
with a pair of loop handles issuing from stylized beast masks,
the shoulder finely decorated with a register of archaistic
interlocking chevrons and scrolls above pendent blade-form
lappets, a thin band of geometric scrollwork encircling the
foot and neck, the designs all inlaid in gold and silver to
contrast with the reddish bronze body
Height 5¾ in., 14.6 cm
PROVENANCE
Sotheby Park Bernet, New York, 23rd May 1974, lot 135.
$ 5,000-7,000

明 銅錯金銀仿古紋小瓶
221 來源：
蘇富比 Park Bernet，紐約，1974年5月23日，編號135

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