Page 198 - Bonham's Asian Art London November 12, 2015
P. 198
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 士紳藏品
209 The present lot would have been part of a larger screen, adorning
FOUR RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL ‘FLOWER’ PANELS palace halls and rooms. For a related twelve-leaf screen, mid-Qing
Qianlong/Jiaqing dynasty, see Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum:
Each exquisitely enamelled in vibrant tones of blue, red, pink, white Enamels 4, Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011,
and green with an abundance of flowers, with an egret standing on pp.202-203, pl.147.
patchy grass beside rockwork and long stalks of poppy, canopied by
overhanging branches of wisteria perched by two yellow-feathered The abundance of flowers depicted on the present lot have
magpies; blossoming flowers of chrysanthemum and peonies issued embodied the panels with auspicious meanings, with each floral
on contorted branches extending from prominent porous rocks, the species representing diverse wishes, as blessings to the owner.
foliate petals finely and naturalistically rendered, above leafy sprays Chrysanthemum represent longevity; peony symbolises wealth and
of day lily, narcissus, aster and begonia flowers, interspered with opulence; whilst wisteria conveys the wish of achieving official rank
a crawling pricket and a pair of butterflies in flight; the last panel in exams. Magpie, or Xique 喜鵲 resembles the character Xi 喜, or
depicting an auspicious early spring scene, with four swallows happiness, and is believed to herald good fortune. The depiction
variously in flight and perched on a gnarled tree trunk issuing small of magpie perched on prunus branches resemble the metaphor
pink and white prunus blossoms above bamboo stalks, the elegantly known as Xishang Meishao 喜上眉梢, or ‘happiness up to the tips
drooping branches borne with delicate flowers, all reserved on a bright of one’s eyebrows’, celebrating the advent of spring, signified by the
turquoise ground with an intricate wan pattern. blossoming of prunus flowers.
Each 100.2cm (39 3/8in) long x 27.8cm (11in) wide (4).
The auspicious motifs and decorations conveyed by the present
£100,000 - 150,000 lot would have suggested it was part of a screen possibly adorning
HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000 CNY970,000 - 1,500,000 palace rooms and chambers, such as the setting of Chonghuagong,
Hall of Double Brilliance in the Forbidden City, Beijing, as part of the
清乾隆/嘉慶 銅胎掐絲琺瑯四季花卉掛屏 一組四幅 Kang bed-stove, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures
of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II),
Provenance: Lady Anne M.S. Durston (d.1989), and thence by Hong Kong, 2002, pp.305, pl.258.
descent
來源： Anne M.S. Durston夫人（1989年歿）珍藏，後由家族繼承
196 | BONHAMS
