Page 51 - Sotheby's Imperial Chiense Porcelain Nov 4 2020 London

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A RARE PAIR OF RUBY-GROUND FAMILLE-ROSE Candlesticks of this type belonged to a five-piece altar
‘BAJIXIANG’ CANDLESTICKS garniture made for one of the temples or shrines where the
QIANLONG SEAL MARKS AND PERIOD Qianlong emperor and his family worshipped. Altar garnitures
were placed in official sites such as the Temple of Ancestors
each enamelled around the body with the bajixiang amidst and the Hall of Ancestors situated in the Forbidden City, and
multi-coloured large lotus blooms borne on dense scrolling in non-official halls including the Shouhuangdian located in
leafy stems, with a puce-enamel keyfret band around the foot, Jinshan, the park that lay immediately north of the Shenwu
dispersed at various intervals with bands of ruyi, interlinked gate within the grounds of the Imperial Palace. A ruby-ground
pendant and upright trefoils, dots, and gilt bands, all reserved altar set, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included
on a rich ruby-red ground, the interior and base enamelled in the Museum’s exhibition A Special Exhibition of Incense
turquoise, the dish tray inscribed with a six-character iron-red Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, 1994, cat.
seal mark within a cartouche no. 105.
(2) Garnitures including candlesticks of this type were produced
Heights 28.5 cm, 11¼ in. in a variety of media during the Qianlong period. See, for
example, a large five-piece bronze garniture, bearing Qianlong
‡ £ 80,000-120,000 reign marks and of the period, illustrated in Qingdai gongting
shenghuo (Life in the Forbidden City during the Qing Dynasty),
清乾隆 胭脂紅地粉彩八吉祥紋燭臺一對 Hong Kong, 1985, p. 299, pl. 467, in situ in the Xianruo Temple,
《大清乾隆年製》款 located in the garden of Cining Gong (Hall of Compassion and
Tranquility); a cloisonné enamel set placed in front of imperial
ancestral portraits and depicted in situ in the Shouhuangdian
included ibid., p. 46, pl. 1.5; a millefleurs-decorated famille-rose
porcelain set bearing Qianlong reign marks and of the period,
from the collections of Richard Bennett Esq. of Thornby Hall
and Mrs. Parish Watson of New York, are published in E. Gorer
and J. F. Blacker, Chinese Porcelain and Hardstones, vol. II,
London, 1911, pl. 200; and a doucai decorated garniture sold
in our London rooms, 11th May 2011, lot 250. Compare also a
puce-enamelled pair of candlesticks, sold in Sotheby’s New
York, 23rd September 2020, lot.

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