Page 110 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

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A RARE PAIR OF FAMILLE VERTE ‘BOY FOREIGNERS’ AS Pairs of laughing ‘Chinese’ boys carrying pots of lotus are well
CANDLESTICKS recorded, however in this instance the inclusion of bulging eyes,
Kangxi period, circa 1700 tight-knot eyebrows and large flat noses suggest that these figures
The cheerful standing boys smiling and each with their left hand resting represent foreigners, perhaps from central Asia, India or even possibly
on their left hips whilst holding a lotus-cup candleholder and ritual cloth Africa. These boys appear to be attendants bearing some sort of ritual
in their right hands, wearing floral decorated green ground jackets tied vessel, indicated by the cloth covering their hands.
with a yellow sash at the waist, and with knee-length ‘noire’ boots over
their yellow-ground pants and standing on a conjoined rockwork base It is also interesting to compare the bulging eyes and the general
painted in a classic egg-and-spinach glaze. stance with left hand on hip and right cup-bearing hand on another
11 1/2in (29.3cm) high (2). famille verte figure of an African cup-bearer illustrated by Michael
Cohen and William Motley, Mandarin and Menagerie, Chinese and
$15,000 - 20,000 Japanese Export Ceramic Figures, Vol. I: The James E. Sowell
Collection, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 58-59, no. 1.6
康熙時期 約1700年 珍稀五彩綠衫《洋童子》燭臺一對
References: an identical pair to these is in the Medeiros e Almeida
Published: Museum, Lisbon; Antunes, 1999, p. 61, a pair of famille verte boys;
Cohen & Cohen, Take Two!, Antwerp, 2017, pp. 126-128, no. 24 Antunes, 2000, p. 31, a pair of tall famille verte boys on stands; Alves,
et al., 1998, p. 318, no. 124, a pair of famille verte boys; Howard &
出版： Ayers, 1978, p. 579, no. 600, a pair of famille verte boys of simpler
倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Take Two!》，安特衛普，2016年，頁 type.
126-128，圖版編號24
These are a very rare example of this early figural candlestick, finely
modelled and decorated with distinctively cheerful expressions on their
faces.

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