Page 208 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION The ornate, intricate lacquer work and prominent dragon
motif of the present lot indicates that the pair was likely to
A RARE PAIR OF BLACK AND GILT LACQUER
have been amongst the most lavish furnishings of the 18th
‘DRAGON’ LANTERN STANDS
century. Lantern stands of this kind were used for nighttime
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY illumination of one of the many rooms of the grandest
residential complexes. Although glass was introduced in the
each stand emerging from an elaborate tripod stepped 18th century it is most likely that the present pair of stands
base, the three slab feet carved and gilt with scrolling clouds originally suspended globular inside-painted horn lanterns.
and leiwen, separated by three dragon heads emerging The dragon-head base and coiled-dragon-form stand is a
from the center pole decorated with further clouds wisps, motif seen in other media in the Qianlong period, for example
the feet joined to the pole by ornate tapering spandrels a large cloisonné and gilt stand from the collection of Samuel
of archaistic angular scrolls with details picked out in gilt, Avery, illustrated in Avery Collection of Ancient Chinese
the detachable long sta" Þ nely carved in high relief with a Cloisonnes, Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and
brightly gilt, Þ ve-clawed dragon boldly coiled amid further Sciences, Brooklyn, 1912, cat. no 84.
clouds and extending the entire length of the black lacquered
pole decorated with a gilt trellis pattern, the Þ erce head of Related examples to the present pair include a pair with
the mythical beast arching over the top to form the lantern similar bases and gilt phoenix-head tops seen in a painting
support; together with a pair of associated lanterns, 19th from an album ‘Strolling in the Moonlight’ by Chen Mei
century, each of square-section carved with an openwork (c. 1694-1745) illustrated in The Golden Exile: Pictorial
crown of red-and-gilt lacquer above a pierced waist the Expressions of the School of Western Missionaries’ Artworks
center section with upper and lower red and gilt lacquer of the Qing Dynasty Court, Museu de Arte de Macau,
openwork borders joined by slender knopped zitan columns Macau, 2002, cat. no. 45, and a phoenix-head zitan pair
at the corners and a wood frame enclosing four reverse- photographed in a reception room in Imperial Life in the
painted glass panels with ß oral sprays, wired for electricity Qing Dynasty, Treasures from the Shenyang Palace Museum,
(6) Singapore, 1990, p. 58. Compare also a smaller pair of
Height 89½ in., 227.3 cm black lacquer and gilt phoenix-head lantern stands sold at
Christie’s Hong Kong, 7th July 2003, lot 60, and another pair
PROVENANCE described as 18th century and imperial of zitan wood also
Pelham Galleries, London, June 1988. sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th November 2012, lot 2041.
$ 80,000-120,000
㶭⋩ℓᶾ䲨ġġġ湹㺮㍷慹漵䲳䅰䰈㝞ᶨ⮵
⍲ġ㶭⋩ḅᶾ䲨ġ㛙㺮㍷慹惵䳓㨨䅰䰈ᶨ⮵
Ը๕
PelhamġGalleries炻ΐ㔎炻1988⸜6㚰

206 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART