Page 138 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

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A RARE IMPERIAL POLYCHROME 清乾隆 染色牙雕娛樂圖掛屏
IVORY PAINTED PANEL
來源：
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG
PERIOD 英國私人收藏，薩里
the rectangular panel intricately carved with
stained ivory in varying levels of relief and
openwork with an idyllic riverside landscape,
depicting in a distance two ladies peeping out
from elaborate fenced pavilions with latticed
windows and balconies, looking beyond a
small island across with a trio of musicians
beside a further pavilion, performing to two
scholars seated by a tall rock sheltered amongst
overhanging willows, in the foreground a group of
ladies, boys and attendants engaged in various
pursuits in two sampan boats docked adjacent
each other beside cragged rocks with further
trees, on the left a pair of mandarin ducks at
swim, all set against a background of distant
mountains disappearing into the misty sky
painted on paper, above a flowing river glazed in
glass simulating water reflections
38.8 by 50.5 cm, 15¼ by 19⅞ in.
PROVENANCE
An English private collection, Surrey.

HK$ 400,000-600,000
US$ 51,500-77,000

Intricately carved in ivory with a wondrous
scene framed against the painted landscape,
this sumptuous panel represents the height of
ivory workmanship in China perspective The
mountainous riverbank scene is occupied by
animated figures, all skilfully picked out with
individual precision, with an added sense of
luxury created through the twisting forms of
the trees, rocks and boats. Other Imperial ivory
screens of this technique from the Qing court
collection, preserved in the Palace Museum,
Beijing, are illustrated in Bamboo, Wood, Ivory
and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum,
Hong Kong, 2001, nos 189-196.
See also an ivory panel depicting scenes of the
Eastern Sea with the Eight Immortals, sold in
these rooms, 2nd December 1997, lot 67; another
magnificent panel with a scene inspired by the
landscape of the Whampoa (Huangpu) region,
Guangdong, sold in our London rooms, 12th July
2006, lot 74; and a panel within a zitan frame,
depicting a busy village scene, from the Muwen
Tang collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st
December 2009, lot 1954.

136 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比