Page 270 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

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A FINE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE ELEGANT STANDING LADIES See lot 19 for a similar fine and rare pair of standing figures. It has
CANDLE HOLDERS been suggested that these well- matched pairs of figures, modelled
Qianlong period, circa 1750 in mirror image and clearly intended to be displayed as a pair rather
The unusually large mirror-image-figures of standing smiling ladies than singly or in groups, were probably used in 18th century Europe
each wearing a lime-green-ground robe enriched with flowers on a as table decoration, forming part of a large ‘surtout de table’, a
cracked-ice ground over an iron-red underskirt, the hair in a high front- large arrangement of porcelain figures grouped appropriately on an
curling chignon and black-enameled on the biscuit, each holding an ormolu and mirror-glass flat base, which provided a very striking
iron-red flaring archaistic-style gu vase serving as the candle holder. decorative feature at the center of a long dining table. However, they
16in (40.5cm) high (2). are physically much larger than most European porcelain figures of the
time which are believed to have amused guests at table, like groups
$20,000 - 30,000 of street vendors, Commedia del’Arte actors or German coal miners.
It seems much more credible that they stood on wall brackets, a
乾隆時期 約1750年 粉彩描金綠衫仕女持觚燭臺一對 mantelpiece or a large piece of furniture, designed to hold candles
during an evening event (when candles were required) such as dinner.
Published:
Cohen & Cohen, Baroque & Roll, Antwerp, 2015, pp. 52-53, no. 36 If they do have any European antecedents, candle holders of this kind
have cultural references more probably in earlier post-Renaissance
出版： silver-gilt and gold candlesticks formed as human figures, made in
倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Baroque & Roll》，安特衛普，2015 German cities such as Augsburg.
年，頁52-53年，圖版編號36
References: Cohen & Motley, 2008, p. 102, no. 5.3, a pair with green
robes; Williamson, 1970, pl. LIX, a single figure.

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