Page 166 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art November, 2018 Hong Kong.

557

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE JOHN
GREGORY (1935-1996)
A SUPERB GOLD-SPLASHED ARCHAISTIC
INCENSE BURNER
MING DYNASTY
of compressed globular form, supported on three bracket feet,
the rounded side cast with two animal mask handles between
two rows of bosses encircling the base and rim, beautifully
decorated overall with liberal splashes of gold scattered on the
sides and base, the base with a six-character Xuande mark
23 cm, 9 in.
HK$ 50,000-70,000
US$ 6,400-9,000
557
明 銅灑金獸耳爐
《大明宣德年製》款

Mark

558

AN EMBROIDERED SILK HANGING OF THE The present piece belongs to a select group of sumptuously
BUDDHIST PARADISE decorated thangkas produced at the imperial textile
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD workshops at Suzhou during the Qianlong period (r. 1735-96).
Depicting the Buddhas of the Three Ages in the centre, who
woven with gold and multicoloured threads to the central panel are surrounded by apsaras, the Four Heavenly Kings and the
with Amitayus Buddha in three mudras, representing the Past, Eighteen Luohan, thangkas of this type were placed in temples
Present and Future, each figure seated in meditation on a and monasteries at court for religious worship, as well as gifted
lotus throne, above an assembly of the Eighteen Luohan and to religious leaders of Tibet. Textiles such as the present were
the Guardians of the Four Directions amid scrolling clouds, modelled after paintings by court artist Ding Guanpeng (1708-
all below the five characters reading wu liang shou zun fo 1771), such as a silk hanging scroll illustrating a related scene,
(Amitayus, Buddha of the Eternal Life) woven in gold thread in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco,
separating the sun and moon discs respectively enclosing object no. 2000.7.
a cockerel and a hare, and eight apsaras bearing tributes,
framed by an elaborate lotus scroll border Compare a similar example in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
152.5 by 72 cm, 60 by 28⅜ in. London, museum no. T.230-1965; one from the Pourtales
collection, recently sold at Artcurial Paris, 11th June 2018, lot
PROVENANCE 141; one sold in these rooms, 8th October 2006, lot 1080;
An Austrian private collection. another sold in our Paris rooms, 18th December 2009, lot 246;
and a fourth example, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th April
HK$ 180,000-250,000
US$ 23,000-32,000 1997, lot 42.
Compare also a set of three embroideries of related
iconography displayed on the ceiling in Le musée chinois de
清乾隆 絹繡無量壽尊佛圖屏心 l’impératrice Eugénie, Château de Fontainebleau, France.
來源：
奧地利私人收藏

164 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比