Page 198 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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A PAIR OF ‘QIANGJIN’ AND ‘TIANQI’ LACQUER While tianqi (‘Þ lled-in lacquer’) was known from at least
INCENSE STANDS, XIANGJI the 3rd century, it grew in popularity during the Jiajing (r.
1522-66) and Wanli (r. 1573-1620) reigns. This technique,
QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD
which involves Þ lling di! erent colors of lacquer into incised
each with a circular top painted in gilt-outlined polychrome outlines, allowed craftsmen to achieve attractive shading
on an umber ground with a lively depiction of a heron e! ects in vibrant colours within clearly deÞ ned forms,
and its mate foraging amid lushly blooming lotus plants particularly evident on the painterly scenes of bird and ß ower
emerging from pierced rockwork and a pair of smaller birds on the top panels. Highly laborious and time-consuming, this
swooping overhead, the rounded beaded edge continuing to technique was mostly reserved for smaller-sized objects and
a recessed waist pierced with a band of ruyi-heads against a rarely on larger furnishings such as the present pair.
delicate polychrome lotus scroll, divided by narrow vertical Compare an incense stand of closely related form and
ß anges with further lotus motif, over a wide, slightly ß aring design, but with the apron decorated in panels enclosing
and cusped apron with lavish lotus ß owers borne on leafy ß owers, attributed to the Kangxi period, sold at Christie’s
stems, all raised on Þ ve slender foliated cabriole legs with Paris, 20th June 2017, lot 106; a smaller example decorated
further lotus decoration and joined to a conforming, waisted with dragons and further embellished in the qiangjin
and pierced pedestal base with a shaped apron supported on technique, and the waist detailed with quatrefoil ß oral
Þ ve ß ared tab feet (2) scrolls, sold in our London rooms, 9th November 2011, lot
Height 36½in., 92.7 cm 38, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2014,
lot 3795; and a pair of stands with an eight-lobed top and a
PROVENANCE
ß ared conforming bracket-lobed apron, sold in these rooms,
Grassy, Madrid, 18th May 1974. 17th-18th March 2015, lot 228.
Spanish Private Collection.
$ 100,000-150,000
This pair of stands is impressive for its elegant, sweeping
form which has been meticulously decorated with an 㶭⹟䅁ġġġ㇏慹⠓㺮匟⠀Ἓ刚⚾㚱㜇儘Ḽ嵛楁
intricate ß oral design. Stands of this type were used both in ↈᶨ⮵
religious and secular contexts to hold incense burners and
ß ower vases. An earlier stand of this type is portrayed in situ Ը๕
on a woodblock print from chapter 18 of the famous novel Jin
Grassy炻楔⽟慴炻1974⸜5㚰18㖍
Pin Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), reproduced in Craig 大䎕䈁䥩Ṣ㓞啷
Clunas, ‘The Novel Jin Ping Mei as a Source for the Study of

Ming Furniture’, Orientations, January 1992, p. 62, pl. 5.

196 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART