Page 96 - Bonhams September 10 2018 New York Chinese Works of Art

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CALIFORNIA COLLECTION
129
A PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE
‘FOREIGNER’ CANDLE PRICKETS
18th/19th century
Each figure finely cast with one muscular arm raised to support the
drip pan surmounted by a columnar pricket, the other hand holding
the end of the scarf that billows over the shoulder, dressed in a
vest with ruyi-cloud collar over panels decorated with flowers of the
seasons divided round the middle by a band of waves with galloping
horses on the front and scattered blossoms on the back, over a
skirt and loose trousers, the head encircled with a fillet over bushy
eyebrows and large bulging eyes; one figure depicted with straight
hair, his mouth in a gentle smile, the other with curly hair, his mouth
open in a large smile revealing the teeth, each mirroring the other in a
half kneel pose, supported on a waisted square plinth supported on
legs joined by cusped aprons.
14 1/2in (36.8cm) high
$60,000 - 80,000

十八/十九世紀 掐絲琺瑯胡人燭臺一對

Provenance
Chen Ji Wenwanchu, 1942 (by repute)
Acquired in France in the 1990s.

Foreigners have been depicted in Chinese ceramics as early as the
Tang period. Painters of Buddhist luohan and tribute missions to the
imperial court continued the fascination with the exotic in subsequent
periods; but the subject in secular sculpture seems to have been
forgotten until the Ming period.

The strong facial features, curly beards and hair held in place by a
curving metal fillet, as well as the skirt or dhoti worn by this pair of
kneeling foreigners lifting candle prickets, also appear on four tiny
foreigners with bare chests kneeling to support a gilt bronze and
cloisonné enameled censer of water chestnut flower shape in the
Qing court collection, dated to the late Ming dynasty: see Gugong
Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji 43: Jinshutai Falangqi [The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing
43: Metal-Bodied Enamel Ware] (2002), cat. No. 74, p. 77 (height of
censer overall 25.4cm [10in)]. A pair of similarly featured foreigners
in bronze and cloisonné, but of larger size, from the Collection of
Juan Jose Amezaga, ascribed to the early 17th century, were sold
in Christie’s, Paris, 7 December 2007, lot 7 (height 13in [33cm]). The
Amezaga Collection figures are dressed in sleeveless jackets inlaid with
flowers and fruit, held in place by sashes filled with flower heads, and
kneel on stepped bases similar in shape and decoration to this lot.

The ledger given to the present owner when he
acquired lots 129 and 130 in France in the 1990s

94 | BONHAMS