Page 53 - Sotheby's Speelman Collection Oct. 3, 2018

fig. 1
Cloisonné enamel figure of a tapir, mark and period of Qianlong
Qing court collection
© Collection of Palace Museum, Beijing
圖一
掐絲琺瑯捲雲紋犧尊 《乾隆年製》款 清宮舊藏
北京故宮博物院藏品

Cloisonné enamel representations of exotic mythical beasts of antiquity. It was included in the International Exhibition of
rank amongst the highest quality of all Imperial enamel Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, published
workmanship created for the Qianlong court. The current in Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits
pair of tapirs are superb examples, modelled in a dynamic for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London,
posture skilfully depicting the bristling lifelike quality and Shanghai, 1936, pl. 7.
impending movement of the figure. The quality of the figures For the more commonly found model, see a figure of a
is exceptional, both skilfully modelled and enamelled in mythical beast (tianlu) cast with a zun on its back in the
brilliant cloisons, with no expense spared to the lavish gilding National Palace Museum, Taipei, incised under the body with
throughout, with particularly intricate gilt flame scroll design. a four-character Qianlong mark, illustrated in Enamel Ware
They are preserved in exceptionally good condition, complete in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasty, National Palace Museum,
with their hinged circular apertures on the back of which the Taipei, 1999, no. 43, and a zun in the form of a mythical qilin
four-character Qianlong mark is inscribed.
from the Speelman collection, sold in these rooms, 3rd April
It is indeed remarkable to find a complete pair, the only 2018, lot 3463. For other Qianlong cloisonné enamel reign-
known example. An individual model of a tapir of identical marked animal figures of similar quality sold at auction, see a
form and quality from the Qing court collection is preserved crouching tiger from the collection of General Charles George
in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Gordon, sold at Christie’s London, 5th December 1994, lot 259
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied and again at Sotheby’s London, 9th November 2011, lot 400,
Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 120 (fig. 1), where it is from the collection of Sir Peter Moores, and a pair of duck-
noted that the model has a particularly lifelike quality and is form ewers from the collection of Juan Jose Amezaga, sold at
a highly successful example of a figure created in imitation Christie’s Paris, 13th June 2007, lot 24.

GEMS OF CHINESE ART — THE SPEELMAN COLLECTION II 51