Page 107 - SOtheby's Hong Kong Fine Chinese Art May 2018
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The form of the present vessel derives from toys of the Han See two Ming bronze examples, attributed to the 16 /17
Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) which were made in ceramic and century, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in
bronze and revived in the late-Ming period in bronze. An the Museum’s exhibition Through the Prism of the Past, Taipei,
image of a child playing with a jiuche is seen on a Han dynasty 2003, cat. nos III-42 and III-43. Such pieces appear to have
stone relief excavated in 1973 from the tomb of Xu Aqu in found favour with the Qianlong Emperor and a variety was
Dongjiao District, Nanyang, Henan Province, now preserved in produced in cloisonné enamel as playthings during his reign.
the Nanyang Museum of Decorated Bricks and Stones of Han For the Qianlong prototype of the current example, see one in
Dynasty, Nanyang, published in Nanyang Faxian Donghan Xu the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware
Aqu Muzhi huaxiangshi [Discovery of Epitaph and Stone Relief in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 70.
from the Tomb of Xu Aqu of Eastern Han], Wen Wu [Cultural
Relic], 1974, vol. 8, pl. 9, pp. 75.
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