A RARE PAIR OF 'ROOSTING PARTRIDGE' TUREENS, COVERS AND STANDS Qianlong period, circa 1775 Each roosting bird formed in two parts, the exterior of both upper and lower section enameled in soft tones of sepia and black as the wing feathers, the chest with paler parallel rows of simulated feathers to suggest the softer down, the beaks and feet pale yellow, the stands with three small sprays of flowers within a metal-shaped molded sinuous and grooved border enameled with single feathers matching the plumage on the birds' wings. the stands: 9in (23cm) long (2). Footnotes: 乾隆時期 約1775年 珍稀《臥鷓鴣》帶蓋湯盆暨托盤組一對 Provenance: Fred Nadler, New Jersey Sotheby's Monaco Published: Cohen & Cohen, Angels & Demonslayers, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 52-53, no. 31 來源： 新澤西Fred Nadler舊藏 摩納哥蘇富比 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Angels & Demonslayers》，香港，2012年，頁52-53，圖版編號31 The partridges are modeled roosting on the ground (as partridges do, in the wild), with the wings opened slightly to the sides. They are delicately enameled in life-like colors, possibly copied from an as yet unidentified European model, though they resemble boxes and covers made at the Bow factory. The species of birds can be clearly identified as the English partridge (Perdix perdix, Linnaeus 1758), which is also found in Northwest China. Similarly shaped boxes were also created in nephrite jade in China, intended for a very different and domestic market. The modelling of the wings, which appears to depict an accurate observation of a 'hanging wing', a trait seen in many ground-nesting game birds, is a most unusual depiction. When in danger, these birds will drag a wing limply to one side to appear wounded, thus distracting any predator from a nest or young nearby. References: a setting quail in the Peabody Essex Museum, Copeland Collection, illustrated by Sargent 1991, p. 204; Cohen & Motley 2008, pp.216-222 for a discussion of bird species modelled in Chinese export porcelain; and Bukowski 2006, for the auction of a pair of tureens of this model with ormolu mounts and bases.