Page 120 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

The Chuxiugong, Forbidden City; image courtesy of the Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 May 2018, lot 32
Palace Museum, Beijing

Prince Livio Borghese was an Italian diplomat from the end of the 19th Openwork display cabinets, known as duobaoge or ‘curio cabinet
century until his death in 1939, serving in China, the Ottoman Empire of many treasures’, developed and reached the height of popularity
and other European countries. It is likely that the present lot was during the 18th century gracing the Imperial halls. The carefully
acquired during his service in China. His elder brother Prince Scipione designed asymmetrical and irregular compartments are characteristic
Borghese (1871-1927), 10th Prince of Sulmona, was famous for of the duobaoge developed in the early Qing period. Such cabinets
winning the ‘Peking to Paris’ car race in 1907. would have been used to display precious objects including ceramics,
jade carvings, cloisonné enamel and archaic and later bronzes.
The present pair of cabinets belongs to an exclusive group of lacquer
furniture manufactured for Imperial consumption, decorated in the A related double-pair of mother-of-pearl-inlaid red and green lacquer
virtuoso technique of mother-of-pearl inlay, with the incorporation of cabinets, mid Qing dynasty, from the Qing Court Collection, is in the
gold and silver foil. Chuxiugong ‘Hall of Gathered Elegance’ in the Forbidden City. Each
cabinet is placed side by side with another to make a pair, and each
While the use of the mother-of-pearl inlay on lacquer, employed pair is placed in a different part of the Imperial hall. The present lot of
throughout the Ming dynasty, became very popular during the Kangxi one such pair of cabinets would almost certainly have formed part
period, the gilt decoration on lacquer became more prevalent from of the same suite of display cabinets; see Classics of the Forbidden
the Yongzheng period. The spectacular visual effect, resulting from City: Inlaid Furniture, Beijing, 2013, pl.24 (showing one such pair of
the combination of the brilliant gilding and the endless shades of pink, cabinets); and Ming Qing Gongting Jia Zhu Da Guan, vol.II, Beijing,
purple and green iridescences, reveals the exceptional dexterity of the 2006, pp.696-697, pls.798-1 and 798-4 (showing the double pairs of
imperial craftsmen. Compare the scrolling floral borders, executed in cabinets in the Chuxiugong).
gilding and mother-of-pearl inlays, decorating an imperial black-lacquer
throne and matching screen, both dated to the third quarter of the Compare to a related pair of Imperial mother-of-pearl-inlaid red and
17th century, from the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin, illustrated in Im gilt-green lacquer cabinets, Mid Qing dynasty, which was sold at
Zeichen Des Drachen, Stuttgart, 2007, pp.202-204. Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 May 2018, lot 32.

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