A PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE 'FOREIGNER' CANDLE PRICKETS


18th/19th centuryEach figure finely cast with one muscular arm raised to support the drip pan surmounted by a columnar pricket, the other hand holding the end of the scarf that billows over the shoulder, dressed in a vest with ruyi-cloud collar over panels decorated with flowers of the seasons divided round the middle by a band of waves with galloping horses on the front and scattered blossoms on the back, over a skirt and loose trousers, the head encircled with a fillet over bushy eyebrows and large bulging eyes; one figure depicted with straight hair, his mouth in a gentle smile, the other with curly hair, his mouth open in a large smile revealing the teeth, each mirroring the other in a half kneel pose, supported on a waisted square plinth supported on legs joined by cusped aprons. 14 1/2in (36.8cm) high
|十八/十九世紀 掐絲琺瑯胡人燭臺一對ProvenanceChen Ji Wenwanchu, 1942 (by repute)Acquired in France in the 1990s.Foreigners have been depicted in Chinese ceramics as early as the Tang period. Painters of Buddhist luohan and tribute missions to the imperial court continued the fascination with the exotic in subsequent periods; but the subject in secular sculpture seems to have been forgotten until the Ming period.The strong facial features, curly beards and hair held in place by a curving metal fillet, as well as the skirt or dhoti worn by this pair of kneeling foreigners lifting candle prickets, also appear on four tiny foreigners with bare chests kneeling to support a gilt bronze and cloisonné enameled censer of water chestnut flower shape in the Qing court collection, dated to the late Ming dynasty: see Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji 43: Jinshutai Falangqi [The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing 43: Metal-Bodied Enamel Ware] (2002), cat. No. 74, p. 77 (height of censer overall 25.4cm [10in)]. A pair of similarly featured foreigners in bronze and cloisonné, but of larger size, from the Collection of Juan Jose Amezaga, ascribed to the early 17th century, were sold in Christie's, Paris, 7 December 2007, lot 7 (height 13in [33cm]). The Amezaga Collection figures are dressed in sleeveless jackets inlaid with flowers and fruit, held in place by sashes filled with flower heads, and kneel on stepped bases similar in shape and decoration to this lot.Another distinctive mode of dress - a ruyi lappet collar and dhoti inlaid with various patterns and a fluttering shoulder scarf - appear on the pair of foreigners supporting hexagonal candle prickets and kneeling on conforming hexagonal stands sold in Christie's, London, 8 November 2011, lot 68 (height 19 3/4in [49.3cm], as 18th century. A similar costume is worn by a single cloisonné enamel and gilt bronze kneeling foreigner holding a shallow bowl sold in Sotheby's, New York, 23 March 2004, lot 528 (height 9 1/4in [25.3cm]), as Kangxi period.A third variation in dress - a sleeveless jacket inlaid with a dragon rising from a band of waves recalling traditional Qing court robes is worn by the single kneeling foreigner holding up a sphere sold in Christie's, Hong Kong, 26 April 1999, lot 561 (height 11 1/2in [29.2cm)], as Kangxi; and pair of foreigners kneeling on square-sectioned bases and holding later square-sectioned candlesticks, sold in Sotheby's, Milan, 13 June 2016, lot 55 (height 39.5cm [15 1/2in]), as Kangxi period. The dragon and wave jacket also clothes the cloisonné and gilt bronze kneeling Hehe Twins sold in Sotheby's, New York, 18 September 2007, lot 156 (height 11in [28cm]).A final variation in dress is the sleeveless jacket worn by the pair of foreigners in this lot and also by the foreigners on the pricket candle holders from the Mandel Collection, sold in Christie's, Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 3906, as Kangxi period (height 14 3/4in [37.5cm]): each vest includes cloud collar lappets above a field of scattered flowers with a large peony featured on the back, a belt with flowers and waves on the back and facing animals on the front, the border bands filled with tiny lingzhi fungus heads. The structure of the vest and its lingzhi fungus-filled border, as well as the shape of the pedestal beneath each figure, can in turn be related to the late Ming pair of bronze and cloisonné foreigners from the Amezaga Collection mentioned above. The Mandel pair of foreigners and the pair in this lot are remarkably similar in most details but differ mainly in the construction of the fluttering shoulder scarves: the fluttering scarves on the Mandel pair are attached to the front of each arm by tiny metal pins; but the lower front section of each shoulder scarf on the foreigners in this lot seems to be cast into the body itself. For this reason, the pricket candle sticks in this lot may have been cast at a different time than the Mandel Collection pair.