Page 122 - Christies THE LAI FAMILY COLLECTION OF FINE CHINESE FURNITURE AND WORKS OF ART

961
A RARE SILK AND METALLIC THREAD CARPET
19TH CENTURY

The central feld is woven with two dragons
confronting a faming pearl enclosed within
a shaped reserve surrounded by four further
dragons at the corners, within foral and
decorative borders, all on a metallic ground.
There is a fve-character mark reading Qianqing
Gong Yuyong (for use in the Palace of Heavenly
Purity) in a line along the top.
51 x 85 in. (129.5 x 215.9 cm.)

$12,000-15,000

PROVENANCE:

Christie’s New York, 3 December 1992, lot 156.
Property from the Lai Family Collection.

The Qianqing Gong, or ‘Palace of Heavenly Purity’,
the frst of the Three Rear Halls, formerly contained
the sleeping chambers of Ming emperors. During the
Qing dynasty, however, emperors began to manage
state affairs from the Qianqing Gong. The Palace
was eventually turned into a formal living room and
offces where emperors summoned subordinates
for consultation, received foreign envoys, as well as
gave banquets for family members, relatives and high
offcials (see Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, The
Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden
City, 1982, p. 50). It is uncertain whether or not this
carpet was ever used in the Palace, but if it were,
carpets inevitably would have been replaced at
regular intervals.

清十九世紀 盤金屬絲五龍紋毯

120