Page 83 - Yamanaka co Auction catalog

GROUP OF CORAL IMPERIAL WEDDING
PRESENTS

140-IMPEltIAL WEDDING GrFT (Ch'ien-lung)
Two coral ornaments on elaborate stands and in a case;
known as "presentation pieces." Each carved of a single
piece of natural pink coral. One is in the form of a flower-
basket from which blossoming peonies mount high, with
leaves drooping gracefully over the basket top. A stem
holding a cluster of peaches and leaves encircles the basket,
issuing from a box carved with an arrangement of the
trigrams of divination. The other is in the form of a tall
vase with elephant-head and loose-ring handles, containing
begonias on top of which a locust has alighted, while be:"
side the vase is a growing peach-tree with fruit, and a
growth of the sacred fungus. Mounted on a series of
stands of carved teakwood and ivory, the ivory tinted
green.
Height of coral, 10 inches.

141-IMPERIAL WEDDING GIFT (Ch'ien-l'nng)
Two coral ornaments, known in China as "presentation
pieces," on a series of stands enclosed within a case. Each
carved from a single piece of natural tree coral, one a light
pink, the other a rich pink of deeper hue. The lighter one
presents a flower-basket on which a Shou character is in-
cised, with the sacred fungus growing beside it, the basket
holding tall branches of blossoming lotus and begonia. The
darker piece is carved as a tall vase surrounded with grow-
ing peaches and sacred fungus, and holding branches of the
rock peony and blossoming plum tree. The stands are of
carved teakwood and green-tinted ivory.
H eight of coral, 12 inches and 10~ inches.