Page 57 - Classical Chinese Furniture from Heveningham Hall may 28 2021 hk.pdf

2814

AN EXTREMELY RARE PAIR
OF IMPERIAL ZITAN SQUARE
LANTERNS
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Each finely carved with flared openwork crown carved
with descending bats above a pierced waist and
continuing on the openwork scroll shoulder. The centre
section with upper and lower openwork borders joined
by slender knopped columns at the corners that frame
the recessed panels. The waisted foot is similarly
decorated as the crown and raised on ruyi-head feet.
28 ⅞ in. (73.4 cm.) high, 14 in. (35.6 cm.) square (2)

HK$4,000,000-6,000,000
US$520,000-780,000

PROVENANCE
The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York,
prior to 1978.
The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part I,
Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 52
The Heveningham Hall Collection
A very similar lantern from the imperial wedding chamber
in the Palace of Earthly Repose is illustrated by Wen Wan-
go and Yang Boda, Treasures of the Forbidden City, London,
1982, p. 56. The intricate openwork lattice work and
columns mirror architectural elements found on doors and
windows within the Imperial palaces. One of a set of four
very similar lanterns from the Museum of Classical Chinese
Furniture, almost certainly from the same workshops,
is illustrated by Sarah Handler, “Carriers of Light: The
Chinese Lampstand and Lantern,” Journal of the Classical
Chinese Furniture Society, Summer 1994, p. 32. The author
notes that many of the smaller openwork elements are
likely to have employed smaller pieces of unused zitan
timber from larger pieces of furniture.

清乾隆 御製紫檀西番蓮紋長方宮燈一對
來源
安思遠舊藏，1978 年以前
錦瑟華年 - 安思遠私人珍藏 第一部分，紐約佳士
得，2015 年 3 月 17 日，拍品編號 52
赫維寧漢莊園珍藏
木質宮燈因造型玲瓏，多由小料攢接而成，易損壞，且宜懸
掛不宜擱置，故存世者稀少。此例宮燈造型宛如建築方亭，
上有毗盧帽式造型，下方與之對稱成須彌座式，鏤雕與浮雕
兼施，以西番蓮紋為主，點綴蝠紋。從雕飾來看，此宮燈為
清乾隆宮廷風格。

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