Page 182 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art London Nov. 2019

The Property of a Gentleman 紳士藏品
Lots 136 - 137

136 TP
AN IMPERIAL CLOISONNÉ AND CHAMPLEVÉ ENAMEL
‘PHOENIX’ ICE CHEST
Qianlong/Jiaqing
Of square section with straight sides tapering to the base, divided
into three horizontal registers by two raised ribs, the middle section
enamelled with shou medallions within a foliate sunburst, flanked by
a pair of formal lotus flowers, the top and bottom registers each with
pairs of confronted red phoenixes centred on a blue bat grasping a
wan character in its mouth, all reserved on a dense foliate turquoise-
blue ground, two sides set with gilt-bronze C-shaped handles, the
interior with a fitted metal liner, wood stand. (2).

£60,000 - 80,000
CNY530,000 - 710,000

清乾隆/嘉慶 禦制銅胎掐絲及內填琺瑯福壽瑞鳳紋冰盒

Provenance: a European private collection, acquired from Anna
Puchar del Bello in 1968, who inherited it from her father, a captain
on a Trieste-based merchant ship that often travelled to the Asia.

來源：歐洲私人收藏，現藏家於1968年購自一名往返於意大利里雅斯
特與亞洲間商船船長之女，Anna Puchar del Bello

Impressive in size and its magnificent detailed design, the decorative members of the imperial Household Department received an allocation
combination of auspicious motifs such as phoenixes, bats and shou of two blocks of ice per day. The pierced covers of the ice box allowed
characters on a dense foliate scroll indicate that it most likely was cool air to escape, which would then be fanned into the rooms by
intended for the emperor’s chambers. A related cloisonné enamel ice servants. Large ice chests of this type derive from wooden prototypes
chest, Qianlong mark and of the period, but decorated with foliate lotus lined with a metal such as lead; see an example in the Victoria and
scrolls, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Albert Museum, London, illustrated by C.Clunas, Chinese Furniture,
Palace Museum: Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pl.129. London, 1997, p.99, pl.89. The form and horizontal gilt-metal ribs are
examples of the original wooden structure that have been retained,
Ice chests were filled with ice and used in the Qing palaces during the along with the transportable nature of these chests represented by in
hot summer months to cool drinks and food, as well as cooling the the sturdily-constructed handles.
surrounding area. In winter ice blocks were cut from the Inner Golden
River and were stored in the five ice vaults in the Forbidden City near Compare with a related cloisonné enamel ice chest, Qianlong, which
the Gate of the Great Ancestors. During the period from the first day was sold at Christie’s New York, 20 0ctober 2004, lot 601.
of the fifth month to the twentieth day of the seventh month specific

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