A RARE PAIR OF SEATED LADIES WITH SPANIELS AND PHOENIXES Qianlong period, circa 1740 Modeled in mirror image and wearing a pale lime-green coat with penciled lotus roundels and a cloud design at the chest, the coat tied with a pink sash with gilt-decorated red pantaloons beneath, their hair wrapped in blue turbans, each figure holds an animated spaniel in their slightly raised arms, to the side sits a colorfully enameled phoenix fenghuang on blue-enameled rockwork, all supported on an asymmetric flat rock base. 8 1/2in (21.5cm) high (2). Footnotes: 乾隆時期 約1740年 粉彩綠衫仕女獵犬鳳凰擺件一對 Provenance: James E. Sowell Collection Published: Cohen and Motley, Mandarin and Menagerie, Chinese and Japanese Export Ceramic Figures, Volume I: The James E. Sowell Collection, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 100-101, no. 5.2 Cohen & Cohen, Tyger Tyger!, Antwerp, 2016, pp. 186-188, no. 62 來源： James E. Sowell舊藏 出版： Cohen 及 Motley，《Mandarin and Menagerie, Chinese and Japanese Export Ceramic Figures, Volume I: The James E. Sowell Collection》，香港，2008年，頁100-101，圖版編號5.2 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Tyger Tyger!》，安特衛普，2016年，頁186-188，圖版編號62 This rare pair of figures would have appealed to the European taste for the exotic and what was thought to be the sublime and elegant life of Chinese ladies. Athanasius Kircher in 1625 remarked on the clothing of Chinese women and said that they passed their time 'sporting with little dogs, birds and such delights.' (Similar groups of figures were modeled in European factories such as Meissen and Chantilly). Those may have been inspired by groups like this, but it is also likely that the inspiration passed both ways. Variations of the group are known with parrots or small children, and groups of standing figures with deer and vases are known. The fenghuang is a Chinese mythological bird that is referred to in the West as a phoenix or sometimes described as a peacock in other sources. Its head has an orange comb and waddle, and a back–pointing crest. The fenghuang was the Empress of birds and in Chinese mythology they were honored by other birds. It signifies beauty, grace, virtue, and the unity of yin and yang. Others of this type can be found, see William Sargent, 1991, no. 124, for a pair with a detailed description; David Howard, 1994, no. 254, a single example; Cohen and Cohen, 1999, no. 39, a single example; Sharpe 2002, 209, a pair; Sotheby's London, 22 June 1970, lot 154, a pair; Sotheby's Monaco, 27 June 1984, a pair holding parrots, and 18 June 1988, lot 1692, a pair holding boys, without rocks; Christie's New York, 24 January 2005, lot 97, a standing lady holding a scone with a similar phoenix; Bonhams London, 6 June 2003, lot 263, a mirror pair of the standing lady with scones and phoenix; Cohen & Cohen, 2015, 46, no. 33, a pair of standing maidens deer.