AN RARE PAIR OF TIANQI 'FLOWER AND BIRD' RECTANGULAR STANDS17th century Finely incised and coloured in varying shades of red, green and burnt amber shading to black, the rectangular tops finely incised with a central panel enclosing a ruyi -cartouche depicting a pair of long-tailed birds amidst a shrub of blossoming peonies and chrysanthemums issuing from jagged rocks, surrounded by blooming chrysanthemums and lotus and within a border enclosing further peonies within cartouches reserved on a leiwen ground, the straight edges with scrolling foliage and flower heads, the recessed waist with openwork ruyi designs over a broad, cusped and barbed apron decorated with further flowerheads, all raised on four curling legs terminating in outward curving acanthus feet connected by rectangular stretchers. 70cm (27 1/2in) wide. (2). 十七世紀 填漆花鳥紋長方香幾一對 pare the scrolling acanthus feet to those on a qiangjin and tianqi lacquer flower and bird kang table, 17th century, illustrated in The Creation of Natural Immensity and Grandeur: The Yang Ming Shan Fang Collection of Lacquer from Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties , Beijing, 2020, pp.134-135, no.40. The shaped aprons are also similar to those found on a lacquer incense stand, Wanli, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (acc.no.M.2004.51). pare also with a related elm-wood square table with traces of lacquer, 17th/18th century, of similar shape, illustrated by C.Evarts, C.L.Ma Collection: Traditional Chinese Furniture from the Greater Shanxi Region , Hong Kong, 1999, pp.188-189, no.87. See also the related acanthus-leaf feet and the reticulated cartouches on the apron of a huanghuali incense burner stand, Ming dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Imperial Furniture of Ming and Qing Dynasties , Beijing, 2007, p.303, no.331. The design of flowers and birds on the present lot, appears to be related to woodblock prints of flowers and birds, such as in the Jiezi yuan huazhuan (Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting), circa 1679, and the Shizhuzhai shuhua pu (Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting), published by Hu Zhengyan (1584-1674) and printed between 1619 and 1633. The increasing availability of illustrated woodblock printed books, including pharmaceutical literature dealing with plants and their medicinal properties helped facilitate their design on lacquer such as the present lot. The flower and bird designs closelypare with the subjects decorating the top of a related qiangjin and tianqi table, Wanli, which was sold at London, 13 May 2021, lot 57.