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AN EXTREMELY RARE AND EXQUISITELY FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL RETICULATED IVORY PARFUMIER, COVER AND STAND -

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AN EXTREMELY RARE AND EXQUISITELY FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL RETICULATED IVORY PARFUMIER, COVER AND STAND
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    HK$500,000 - HK$800,000
  • ($64,712 - $103,539)

Sale Information

Sale 2811
The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
31 May 2010
Hong Kong Buy Catalog





Lot Description

AN EXTREMELY RARE AND EXQUISITELY FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL RETICULATED IVORY PARFUMIER, COVER AND STAND
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Carved in the form of a double-gourd with reticulated interlocking square scroll bands around the two bulbous mid-sections set between pierced lotus scroll stained green, the elaborate cover surmounted by a stylised chrysanthemum finial above a pendent ruyi border, the cover attached to the parfumier with a long ring chain linked at regular intervals to further chains suspending various symbols including a basket of flowers, a bell, a flywhisk, twin fish, a lingzhi stem and a monkey, the separate stained ivory stand supported on mythical beast head feet
3 in. (7.5 cm.) high including stand


清乾隆 御製染色象牙鏤雕福壽綿綿葫蘆形花薰

花薰呈束腰葫蘆形，有蓋。蓋頂飾菊花鈕，壁染綠色鏤雕如意雲頭一周。頸、腰及底部染綠色鏤雕花草紋，上、下腹中環刻相扣迴紋，可活動。底中心飾團壽紋。花薰底有活環長鏈與蓋相連，鏈上扣六條支鏈，分別連有靈猴抱着壽桃、雙魚、靈芝、小鍾、花籃等。寓意萬壽連年、如意吉祥。

此器採用染色、鏤雕及淺刻技法雕成，做工精細，玲瓏剔透，活環長鏈環環相扣，可謂鬼斧神工之作，清宮造辦處牙雕作中之精品。北京故宮博物院藏幾件牙雕葫蘆形花薰，(圖一) 便是其中一件。

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Lot Notes

The present ivory carving is very rare with only four other extant related examples remaining in important museum collections. Compare with three double-gourd parfumiers in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, all with similar chains suspending various objects illustrated in Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong Commercial Press, 2002, nos. 174, 175 (see fig. 1) and 177. The first, closest in style to the present example, is attributed to the Palace Workshops, while the third, larger carving dated to the Yongzheng/Qianlong period is recognizably from the ateliers of the Canton workshops and was commissioned as a wedding gift. Another, less elaborate example in the Victoria and Albert Museum was included in the exhibition China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 283.

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