Page 143 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

63 ¤
A PAIR OF IRON-RED, SEPIA, BROWN, GILT AND Elephants largely disappeared from mainland China during the Han
UNDERGLAZE BLUE ‘ELEPHANT’ CANDLESTICKS and Tang periods, so that by the late Ming they were a great rarity.
Jiaqing period, circa 1800 In the Qing the only such animals were imports from India, used for
The beasts depicted seated and wearing rich caparisons that support transport of goods. Xie Zhaozhe, writing in the late Ming, commented
a trumpet-shaped candle holder at the center of the saddle, each on them in his Fivefold Miscellany (1608): “Although these beasts are
modelled in mirror image looking back with trunk reaching to its rear bulky and awkward in nature and do not have an elegant shape, they
haunches, the saddle-clothes painted in underglaze blue with breaking nonetheless possess uncanny intelligence. Thus, it is that that many
waves, rockwork and prunus heads, the bodies further painted with humans are not the equals of animals.”
strapwork in underglaze blue and with the elephants hide marked with
a dense pattern of brown and gilt strokes on a pale sepia ground, the Elephants were rare and popular in Europe; the naturalist René de
underside unglazed. Réaumur sent one to Paris in 1755, but his ship was captured by the
4 1/2in (11.5cm) across (2). English and the elephant, expecting to arrive in Paris, disembarked
instead in Portsmouth, where it promptly died. It was stuffed and later
$1,500 - 2,000 returned to the French.
嘉慶時期 約1800年 青花描紅描金《太平有象》燭臺一對 References: Veiga, 1989, p. 110, a single similar to this; Shimizu &
Chabanne, 2004, p. 111, a late Ming example in blue and white;
Published: Sargent, 1991, p. 242, two pairs.
Cohen & Cohen, A Game of Bowls, Gent, 2014, p. 106, no. 76 & 77
出版：
倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《A Game of Bowls》，根特，2014
年，頁106，圖版編號76及77

COHEN & COHEN | 141