Page 42 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION

1319
A MAGNIFICENT AND RARE ZITAN DRAGON THRONE

18TH-19TH CENTURY

The stepped, solid zitan back is fnely carved with a front-facing fve-clawed dragon above a
shou character fanked by two fve-clawed dragons on either side amidst fve bats in fight and
dense, scrolling clouds. The two side railings are similarly carved in high relief with a dragon
striding amidst bats and clouds, above the rectangular seat and a narrow waist with shaped,
beaded apron further carved with archaistic scroll. The whole is raised on thick cabriole legs of
square section terminating in ruyi-form feet and joined by rectangular base stretchers.
43√ in. (111.4 cm.) high, 48¿ in. (122.2 cm.) wide, 30º in. (76.8 cm.) deep

$800,000-1,200,000

PROVENANCE

Acquired from a Private New England collection in 1999.

清十八/十九世紀 紫檀龍紋寶座
Imposing thrones were arguably the single most important element of formal arrangements in the
palace during the Qing dynasty, and their production was highly regulated in terms of size, decoration
and the materials used. Thrones created the platform upon which the emperor would be seen by his
subjects and embodied the ultimate symbol of imperial power. Every throne, therefore, had to help
create an imposing scene by being majestic in scale, constructed of the fnest and rarest materials,
and of the highest possible workmanship. Placed centrally in an Imperial hall, they would be backed
by a large screen and fanked by pairs of incense burners, ornamental animals and fans. As discussed
by John C. Ferguson in Survey of Chinese Art, Shanghai, 1940, there were more than one hundred
throne chairs in the Palace. Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing and Lu Yanzhen additionally note in Daily Life in the
Forbidden City, Hong Kong, 1988, pl. 196, that in the early Qianlong period, the emperor decreed that a
screen and a throne be placed in each of the twelve eastern and western palaces, and repeated changes
would be made in the following reigns.

40