Page 94 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

THE PROPERTY OF A ROYAL FAMILY
王室家族藏品

75 † TP
A MAGNIFICENT AND RARE TWELVE-LEAF
DOUBLE-SIDED ‘COROMANDEL’ SCREEN
Kangxi
Exquisitely decorated on the front with a detailed scene of
court ladies within a palatial landscape, all enclosed within
a border carved with the ‘Hundred Antiques’, the reverse
depicting ‘one hundred birds courting the phoenix’, with a
central pair of phoenix perched on rockwork beside flowering
peony, with numerous other birds including egrets, crane,
pheasants and mandarin ducks.
overall 636cm (250 1/3in) wide x 203.8cm (80 2/8in) high. (12).

£60,000 - 80,000
CNY540,000 - 710,000

清康熙 褐漆彩繪樓閣園遊圖十二開屏風

Provenance: a Royal Collection

來源： 某國王室收藏

Palace scenes with ladies of the court were popular in the The reverse scene depicts a pair of phoenix among various
late Ming and early Qing periods. According to W.De Kesel other birds. This embodies the popular and auspicious
and G.Dhont, these screens of palaces and ladies were often design of the ‘Hundred Birds Paying Tribute to the Phoenix’.
based on a frequently reproduced painting by Qiu Ying (1494- According to Chinese legend, the phoenix is the King of all
1552) known as ‘Spring Morning in the Han Palace’. See W.De feathered creatures, appearing only in times of prosperity
Kesel and G.Dhont, Coromandel: Lacquer Screens, 2002, and peace. The subject also symbolises the wish for marital
Gent, pp.48-49. harmony by showing the phoenix as a pair.

The popularity of scenes with predominantly female figures Compare with a related twelve-leaf coromandel screen,
engaging in various activities including the ‘Four Arts of the Kangxi, with similar decoration of birds on one side, but a
Scholar’ may reflect changing models of feminine identity lengthy inscription on the reverse, which was sold at Sotheby’s
by the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which in terms of London, 8 November 2017, lot 38; see also another twelve-
cultural refinement, may have been considered almost equal leaf screen with similar decoration of birds and palace scenes,
to the male literati. Similar twelve-leaf screens, Kangxi, are Kangxi, which was sold at Christie’s Paris, 21-22 June 2016,
illustrated by W.De Kesel and G.Dhont, ibid., pp.23,31,36. lot 399.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
90 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.