Page 364 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

Changchungong (Hall of Eternal Spring), the Forbidden City;
image courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing

This magnificent pair, measuring over two metres high, would have These magnificent cranes are an extravagant reflection of the auspicious
adorned an Imperial throne hall, flanking the throne. Their majestic beliefs attached to red-capped cranes by the Chinese Court. According
graceful form and impressive size would have served to impress upon to legend, cranes could live for one thousand years or more and thus
those present the importance of the stately room as well as reinforcing have become associated with long life. In the context of the Imperial
their auspicious symbolism. palaces they conveyed the wish for the Emperor to live long. The
Chinese word for crane is he, which is a homophone for the word
Cloisonné enamel cranes standing on either side of the throne in for harmony, and thus cranes represent peace. Their long legs were
Imperial halls can be seen in the Forbidden City in the Taihedian (Hall described as resonating with the harmonies of nature and Heaven. The
of Supreme Harmony), the largest and most important building in present cranes are modelled standing on top of undulating mountain
the Forbidden City, popularly known as the ‘Throne Hall’; and in the peaks strewn with flowers and lingzhi fungus, reinforcing the wish
Qianqinggong (Palace of Heavenly Purity), which was another major for longevity. These mountains most probably symbolise the mythical
throne room in the Palace during the 18th century. Similar cloisonné mountain on the island of Penglai, said to be in the eastern end of Bohai
enamel cranes serving as pricket candlesticks holders can be found on sea, and home to the Eight Immortals.
either side of the throne in the Forbidden City’s Changchungong (Palace
of Eternal Spring). Another related example, with pricket candlesticks
(146cm high), can be seen in the Shenyang Palace and is illustrated
in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace
Museum: The Enamel Volume, 2007, pp.88-89.

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