Page 54 - Bonhams,Important Asian Art, Sydney AU, April 22 2021

77
A GILT-BRONZE 'DOUBLE FISH' EMBLEM
Qing dynasty
stand, 7.0cm high, 217g
$1,500 - 2,200
清 銅鎏金「雙盫魚」法物
78
A CLOISONNE 'SCROLLING LOTUS' INCENSE BOX
Qianlong four-character mark, and an inventory mark, gui
6.7cm diam., 3.5cm high
$8,000 - 12,000
Cloisonné in the form of earlier bronze prototypes were
used profusely during the Qianlong period (1735-1796) as
trios of incense burner, container, and related tool caddy,
known as luping sanshi in Beijing. Besides the typical
reign marks, they often carry an extra character from the
Thousand Character Classic, an ancient indexing system
Chinese used since as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907).
It contains exactly 1000 and non-repeated characters,
hence was found to be versatile and efficient in indexing
libraries and collections, including the Imperial Collection.

銅胎琺琅洋蓮紋香盒 「乾隆年製」、「規」字楷書刻款
如此器器底刻年款並另漢字款者，乾隆朝琺琅器「爐瓶三
事」頗多。底款有乾隆四字、六字，有陰刻於方形鎏金或
長排鎏金者。「爐瓶三事」，乃北京通行之語，即香爐、
箸瓶、香盒三物，焚香必備之物。乾隆朝盛行，更專殿專
用。年號款之外的漢字，乃由《千字文》而來，用以編號
管理。用「千字文」來管理書籍、器物早在唐代伊始。到
了清代，雍正帝對《千字文》中漢字進行刪選更改，去不
祥、避諱、數目字等字樣，至乾隆朝廣泛用於宮廷器物。
79
AN ENAMELLED SILVER 'ABSTINENCE' PLAQUE
Qing dynasty
7.3cm long, 60g
$1,000 - 2,000
Small abstinence plaques, such as the current lot, were
physical signs of the ceremonial requirement for abstinence
before worship of ancestors, the Heavens or other deities.
The required abstinence usually lasted for three days and
involved refraining from drinking alcohol, eating meat and
fragrant herbs such as onions, chives and garlic, and from
any intimate acts. Devotional in origin, the small plaque
would have functioned as a private aide-memoir to the
wearer to abstain from earthly pleasures, but became
in itself a thing of beauty, admired openly in public and
denoting the status of the wearer.

清 燒藍銀胎雙盫夔龍齋戒佩
80
A BEIJING-ENAMEL 'EUROPEAN SUBJECT' BELT
BUCKLE
19th century
7.5cm long, 64g
$2,000 - 5,000
清 銅胎畫法郎「歐式宮廷人物」帶扣

54 | BONHAMS