Page 168 - Christie's Important Chinese Works of Art, May 31 to June 1, 2023 Hong Kong

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Mrs. Holmes was one of the foremost collectors of Chinese art in the Christian R. Holmes夫人（1875-1941）是二十世紀初最具影響力的收
twentieth century. Mrs. Holmes (1875-1941), née Bettie Fleischmann, 藏家之一。她出身於一美國商人家庭，1896年嫁予辛辛那提市醫院創辦人
was the daughter of Charles Fleischmann, of Fleischmann's Yeast, Gin,
and Margarine. In 1896 she married Dr. Christian Rasmus Holmes, Christian Rasmus Holmes醫生。Holmes夫人收藏的中國青銅器後來大
a Danish immigrant to the U.S. in 1872, who graduated from Miami 部分流入布倫戴奇（Avery Brundage）的收藏，並構成今天舊金山亞洲藝
Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later founded the Cincinnati 術博物館青銅器館藏的三分之一；她的其他藝術品收藏亦散佈於全球各大
General Hospital in 1903. Much of Mrs. Holmes' collection of Chinese 重要美術館中。
bronzes eventually entered the collection of Avery Brundage, which
today represents a third of the bronze holdings of the Asian Art
Museum of San Francisco. Mrs. Holmes' collection is now represented 有數件相類的翡翠嬰孩枕可資比較，包括一件由H. Whitaker夫人舊
in major museum collections worldwide. 藏、1915年著錄於Burlington Fine Arts Club展覽圖錄《Catalogue of
a Collection of Objects of Chinese Art》，圖版XIII；趙從衍舊藏一
A similar pillow in the collection of Mr. H. Whitaker, illustrated in the 對，1986年11月18號在香港蘇富比拍賣，拍品193號；一件相傳源自皇家園
Burlington Fine Arts Club, Catalogue of a Collection of Objects of
Chinese Art, London, 1915, pl. XIII (top), may be the same pillow in the 林，後來經Heber R. Bishop進入紐約大都會博物館，定年十九世紀。
collection of Lady Louis Montbatten, London, that was included in the
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London,
1935-6, no. 2873. The Whitaker pillow appears to be the same one
illustrated by G. Wills, Jade, A Collector's Guide, South Brunswick,
New Jersey, 1964, pl. 18. A similar pair of pillows was sold at Sotheby's
Hong Kong, 2 December 1976, lot 726 and again from the T. Y. Chao
Private and Family Trust Collections, 18 November 1986, lot 193. A
related emerald-green jadeite pillow of a kneeling boy with his hands
crossed below his head and wearing an apron, from the Imperial
Summer Palace, was presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by
Heber R. Bishop in 1902. Previously dated as Kangxi, it has recently
been redated to the 19th century.
The theme of a boy holding a lotus is very popular in Chinese art. One
of the names for lotus is lian, a homonym of the word 'continuous', and
the musical instrument sheng is a homonym for sheng (birth), and so a
boy holding a lotus is a pun for the continuous birth of sons. Therefore,
this particular imagery of a boy holding both a lotus and a sheng would
be extremely auspicious.

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