CHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL DUCK-HEAD BOTTLE
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The pear-shaped body is decorated with flower scroll bearing large blossoms on leafy meandering stems that rise from a band of blue overlapping petals and continue up to a narrow gilt-copper collar encircling the neck below turquoise feathers that decorate the upper arched neck and head, with a gilt-rimmed circular opening at the back of the head, glass-inlaid eyes and a gilt beak, the foot encircled by lotus sprays.
10 ¼ in. (28 cm.) high

Provenance

The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, before 1984.

Literature

A. Martin, “American Mandarin,” Connoisseur, November 1984, p. 99.

Special Notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Brought to you by

Michael Bass

asianartny@christies.com +1 212 636 2180

Lot Essay

A cloisonné enamel vessel of this shape decorated with cell diaper, dated to the Qianlong period, in the collection of Les Arts Décoratifs-musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, is illustrated by Beatrice Quette (ed.) in Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011, p. 266-67, no. 84, and p. 87, fig. 5.10, where a page from the eighteenth century bronze catalogue Xiqing gujian, juan 21, which depicts a bronze vessel of related shape, is illustrated. See, also, another cloisonné enamel duck-head bottle, also decorated with cell diaper sold at Christie's New York, 18 September 2004, lot 620. This unusual shape is first seen in bronze during the Han dynasty (221 BC-AD 220), such as the gilt-bronze example sold at Christie's New York, 21 March, 2002, lot 80.

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