Page 304 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

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A FAMILLE-ROSE ‘COCKERELS’ The present panel weaves together multiple For porcelain screens with painted trompe l’oeil
PANEL auspicious connotations associated with the borders, see a Qianlong mark and period table
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG / cockerel. Rising with the sun, the bird is an screen with a faux puddingstone border sold in
JIAQING PERIOD ancient yang symbol. Its name is a pun on our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2006, lot
‘duke’ (gong) and ‘auspicious’ (ji), and its comb 1134, and another 18th century example with
delicately painted with five cockerels on a grassy is also a homonym on ‘official’ (guan). Together a faux turquoise border sold in our London
slope, all with lush plumage and pronounced with the peony, it suggests the rebus gongming rooms, 11th June 1991, lot 215.
iron-red combs and wattles, some perched on fugui (‘May you receive official rank and
rockwork while others graze amidst tangled honor’), and combined with the cockscomb,
stems of large blooms including peony, rose, it forms the rebus guanshang jiaguan (‘May 清乾隆 / 嘉慶 粉彩雄雞花石圖
cockscomb, and poppy, a gnarled pine tree you continuously rise in rank’). The image of a 瓷板
twisting upwards and partially obscured cockerel perched on a rock is also a blessing for
by scrolling clouds, the corner of a garden the home (shishang daji). 來源
balustrade peeking above the lower edge, the For a panel decorated with quail and 美國私人收藏
panel painted with a faux bois border, mounted chrysanthemum, see one sold at Christie’s 紐約蘇富比2005年3月31日，編號143
within a hardwood frame Hong Kong, 4th October 2018, lot 61. See
18½ by 12½ in., 47 by 31.7 cm also a panel with floral blooms and rockwork,
sold in our London rooms, 15th May 2013, lot
PROVENANCE
330. For a Qianlong mark and period table
American Private Collection. screen with birds and rockwork, see one sold
Sotheby’s New York, 31 March 2005, lot 143. at Christie’s New York, 1st December 1994, lot
442. Compare also a Qianlong period famille-
$ 30,000-50,000 rose enamel ‘rooster’ plaque sold in our London
rooms, 9th November 2005, lot 602.

302 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART