PAIR OF TURQUOISE-GLAZED BUDDHISTIC LION JOSS STICK HOLDERS, QING DYNASTY, each creature seated on its hind legs on a pierced purple-glazed rectangular base, one animal with a pup and the other holding a brocade ball, the bases inscribed '14 Juillet 1859 Duma', 19cm high Provenance: A gift from Lawrences Auctioneers, Crewkerne in 2010. Note: A pair of "2 dogs of Fo, mottled blue and violet" were in the Gaignat sale, Paris 1768. For another pair see Krahl, R., The Anthony de Rothschild Collection of Chinese Ceramics, 1996, no.243, where the author mentions a further pair mounted in ormolu in the Louvre. A similar pair were also recorded in the collection of Queen Mary. Also see John Ayers, The Royal Collection, 2016, vol. 2, where eleven lions of this type are shown, no's 1446, 1449-1457, mostly bought by George IV, circa 1820, for Brighton Pavilion.