Page 119 - Chinese Export Art Christie's New York, Jan 21, 2016

PROPERTY FROM THE SOWELL COLLECTION

227
A VERY RARE FIGURE OF THE CHRIST
CHILD
LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

His blue robe with gilt trim and dragons and
cranes, an aperture behind for hanging

10Ω in. (27 cm.) high

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE:

With Jorge Welsh, London.
The Collection of Raf & Mildred
Mottahedeh; Sotheby’s, New York, 19
October 2000, lot 408.
The Collection of Basil & The Hon. Nellie
Ionides, Buxted Park, Sussex; Sotheby’s,
London, 13 October 1964, lot 524 A.

LITERATURE:

op. cit., pp. 94, no. 4.8

This rare devotional fgure is said to have
been from a small set made for a house
in Macao, where each would have hung
over a bed (see Howard & Ayers, op.
cit., p. 622). Only three are known, this
example, one in the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, and another in formerly in the Jay
Dorf collection and now in the Fundacao
Medeiros e Almeida, Lisbon.

117