Cultural Harmony
A Catalogue For
Wednesday 30th October - Friday 8th November 2024
Cultural Harmony
Artistic Exchange Between China and the West
A collection of Chinese and Chinese export works of art, showcasing the influence of European style on Chinese design and the allure of Oriental goods in the Western market
PAIR OF MIRROR PAINTINGS
c. 1760 – 65
China, Ca nton. England, London.
Painted mirror plate, gilded limewood.
H: 104 W: 55 cm
Provenance:
Private Collection: Copenhagen, Denmark
The subject most frequently depicted in eighteenth-century Chinese mirror paintings is the Beautiful Women, who were often painted alone and in small groups or in the company of male characters, whose presence is simply to enhance the woman’s grace and beauty.
The more important examples of this genre were created as pairs, allowing the characters and motifs to take on a symbolic significance and concepts to be set against one another. Music-poetry pairs and old age-youth comparisons were painted. Indoor-outdoor and winter-summer oppositions are well known, often expressed as an elegant lady of the court seated in a richly adorned pavilion next to a hatted shepherdess amongst lush nature and youthful animals.1
The present paintings depict the married woman-unmarried girl duality, an opposition that seems to have been one of the least painted by artists and so is particularly rare to find today. In the first painting, the lady wears her hair in the gaoliang way, with a chignon fashioned around a piece of wood positioned horizontally across her head, indicating she is a married Manchu woman. In the second painting, the girl wears a simple chignon standing up vertically on her head, signifying her unmarried status.2
The Manchu, who ruled China as the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), assigned the highest symbolic importance to hairstyles, decreeing that all men, both Manchu and Chinese, wear their hair in a plait, and that their wives wear the Manchu style described. The hair was then often richly decorated with jewels and flowers, as in the present paintings where the gaoliang hair is also adorned with traditional hairpins holding three hanging pendants that would swing whenever the lady moved her head.
The two women are depicted in nearly identical interiors, which is typical for this opposition, conceived to emphasise the differences in the two women's appearances. The married lady is seated on a railed veranda opened to the outside by withdrawn curtains. Likewise, the unmarried lady is beside an open window with drapery tied overhead. The married-unmarried opposition is explored further by the first lady who holds a pair of flowers, representing a married couple, and the second lady who holds a pin cushion, a symbol perhaps to a potential husband of marital virtue, and stands leaning with her head resting gently on her hand, looking longingly out of the window, waiting.
The present pair is closely comparable to a pair formerly in the Horlick Collection depicting the same opposition. 3 In the first painting a young woman with Manchu style hair is
seated on a veranda again opened to the outside by the tied-back curtain. She holds a flower in her hand like the married woman of the present first painting. The setting in the second painting is almost identical. A young girl wearing a simple chignon, just as the girl in the present second painting, sits at a table holding a flower in her hand.
In the same way, the present pair compares to other examples of the opposition, namely the pair in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm and the two pairs illustrated in Audric, Chinese Reverse Glass Painting (2020), pp. 188-91, nos. 157-8, 179-80. 4
The present mirrors are painted in exquisite fine detail characteristic of the very best Chinese export reverse-painted mirrors, which are a symbol of this fascinating international trade and cultural exchange in the eighteenth century between China and Europe.
1 Audric, Thierry, Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 1720-1820: An Artistic Meeting Between China and the West (Bern, 2020), pp. 52-69
2 Ibid., p. 56
3 Sotheby’s, Magnificent Chinese Mirror paintings and English Furniture from the Horlick Collection (5 th June 2007), p. 18-19, lot 7
4 Wirgin, Jan, Från Kina till Europa, Östasiatiska Museet (Stockholm, 1998), p. 296, cat. 305
2.
PAIR
OF FISH BOWLS
Yongzheng Period (1722 - 35)
China, Jingdezhen, Canton.
Porcelain, famille rose enamels, gilt biscuit.
H (with stand): 82 H: 39 D: 57 cm
Provenance:
Mrs. Maria da Conceição (São) Schlumberger (1929-2007)
The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, c. 1998
Private Collection: New York, USA
This impressive pair of vessels is lusciously painted in the rich palette of the early famille rose, created in the Yongzheng reign both for the domestic market and for export. Each is potted with a bulbous body rising to an everted lip and mounted with biscuit lion’s mask handles of Buddhistic origin modelled of unglazed porcelain, dressed in brown slip and gilt. The bowls are painted with birds and blossoming peonies, roses, magnolias and chrysanthemums below a band of sinuous chilongs prowling and grasping lingzhi .
Vessels of this type belonged to the imposing décor of European palaces and great English country houses, as examples of exotica for their well-travelled patrons. The present bowls compare closely to the sumptuous pair in the White Sea Hall in the Royal Palace in Stockholm and the fine example at Wallington House, Northumberland described as a ‘noble china cistern’ by Arthur Young who visited in 1769. 1
Goldfish were routinely imported from China as private trade only from the 1730s, inspired perhaps by descriptions of the goldfish kept as pets by Chinese courtiers. The naturalist George Edwards noted that Charles Lennox, 2 nd Duke of Richmond (1701-50) of Goodwood had a ‘large Chinese earthen Vessel full of these Fish brought to England’ and Horace Walpole famously bred goldfish at Strawberry Hill as gifts for friends.
Reflecting their purpose for keeping fish, these vessels were often painted in the interior with fish amongst water plants. The present pair is unusual in depicting flowers and birds inside, suggesting it was intended for other uses in a European setting, perhaps as jardinières or wine coolers. Indeed, these bowls were soon adapted as cisterns for rinsing drinking glasses or chilling wine bottles. This use was no doubt suggested by their similarity to European metalware cisterns, also fitted with drop ring handles, and other Chinese porcelain cisterns usually acquired in pairs and fitted with ornamental stands, as supplied by Thomas Chippendale in the 1770s to two Yorkshire houses, Nostell Priory and Harewood House.
By the early nineteenth-century, now abstainers of alcohol, the Trevelyans, to whom Wallington passed in 1777, converted the cistern into a jardinière. Paintings of the Saloon show it planted first with sand lilies and then, in 1853, with calla lilies. In the 1920s it was once again filled with water to ‘make the fish come alive’ and entertain the Trevelyan children, revealing the diverse functions these bowls were employed to perform.
1 Patricia F. Ferguson, Ceramics: 400 Years of British Collecting in 100 Masterpieces (London: 2016)
3. CRUET
Wanli Period (1573 - 1620)
China, Jingdezhen.
Porcelain, underglaze cobalt-blue decoration.
H: 45 W: 40 cm
Provenance: Jorge Welsh, Lisbon
Private Collection: Lisbon, Portugal
Modelled in globular pomegranate form, this cruet or ewer is delicately painted with panels of ruyi heads, key fret, water plants, insects, bamboo shoots and sprays of blossoming flowers in contrasting shades of bright underglaze cobalt-blue. The serpentine spout has leaves boldly moulded in relief at its base and the tapering neck is painted with a proud bird perching atop a rock and ends in a six-point ‘pomegranate’ star. Made for the Middle Eastern or European market, following earlier Islamic forms in metal.
This example is particularly elegant in shape and potted very finely, in contrast to thicker kendis. It is part of a special group of kraak pouring vessels that first appeared in the reign of Emperor Wanli, other examples of which are in the Franks Collection in the British Museum, the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the Fondation Custodia, Institut Néerlandais, to the latter of which the present example bears particular close relation in both form and decoration.1
In Chinese culture, the pomegranate (shi-liu) symbolises rejuvenation, abundance and a blessed future. Painted throughout with blooms and auspicious motifs, the ewer is also symbol of prosperity and good fortune.
1 Rinaldi, M., Kraak Porcelain: A Moment in the History of the Trade (London, 1989), pp. 177-9, esp. fig. 228
c.f. also Welsh, J., Kraak: The Rise of Global Trade (Lisbon/London, 2008), pp. 176-9, 262-3
PAIR OF SCONCES
Qianlong Period (1736 - 95)
China, Canton. Metal, enamel, brass.
H: 55.5 W: 37 cm
This pair of shaped scones, exquisitely painted in vibrant famille rose enamels, depicts the Daoist Immortal Magu, symbolising longevity, wearing long flowing robes and standing on crashing waves beneath a cloudy sky, a deer and young attendant to her side. The figures are surrounded by a dense border of lush stylised vegetation with butterflies and blooms and a boldly modelled fish head at the apron producing two candle arms supporting a petal-shaped drip-pan and candle socket.
Very few sconces of this type survive, with one notable pair in the collection of Hermitage, St. Petersburg. The present pair, however, are in exceptional condition, exhibiting remarkably little surface wear and retaining the original candle sockets and drip-pans, unlike many other extant examples, including those in the Hermitage and on the market.
Created with a technique believed to have been introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries and clearly exhibiting the influence of the scrolling French rococo style, these prized works of art were made both for the Emperor and for export to the West, where they were particularly favoured by the Dutch and Danish markets and notably their royal families and aristocracy.1
1 T. B. Arapova, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Vol. 81, pp. 55-6, fig. 9
PAIR OF NODDING FIGURES
Clay, polychrome paint.
H: 37.5 W: 12.5 D: 15 cm
A pair of nodding figures depicting a mandarin and his wife, finely painted in striking polychrome, the female figure wearing a robe with four-clawed dragons, signifying noble rank, amongst clouds on a salmon ground above the terrestrial diagram, crashing waves with watery spray and the lishui stripe at the hem, the male figure with a turquoise robe with ruyi heads and scrolling grasses, each with a fan.
Chinese nodders were first documented in England and Europe as early as the 1760s, with Zoffany’s 1764 portrait of Queen Charlotte in her Dressing Room at Buckingham Palace depicting two such figures in the background.1 A related group of ‘twenty-four figures of Chinese burnt clay with colouring 13 inches’ of c. 1777 are in the Royal Danish Collection.2
The majority, including the present pair, were imported into England, Europe and America from the 1780s into the early nineteenth century, with the great interest in England deriving largely from the personal tastes of the Prince of Wales and his projects first at Carlton House and then Brighton Pavilion in 1802, where a number of nodding Chinese figures were prominently displayed in the Long Gallery.3
1 C. Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth Century Decoration (New York: 1993), p. 255, fig. 246
2 B. Dam-Mikkelsen, T. Lundbaek, Objects in the Kunstkammer, 1650-1800 (1980), pp. 173-9
3 J. Morley, The Making of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton (Boston: 1984), pp. 169-176
c. 1790
China, Canton.
6. PAIR OF GEESE
Known for their lifelong pair bonds, geese are enduring symbols of fidelity and marital harmony in Chinese culture. Generously modelled in fine feathered detail, each head slightly raised and beak open in mid-cry, the present pair is a powerful expression of this symbolism, a representation of enduring love, devotion and the notion that family harmony is a cornerstone of ordered society.
The animal also has literary significance, often employed in scholarly tracts and poetry to evoke elegance, grace and intellectualism.
The depiction of geese in art is not only a celebration of these qualities but a reflection of the complex interplay between nature, society and the individual. Geese occupy a significant place in the artistic and symbolic landscape embodying the ideals and aspirations of a rich and enduring cultural tradition.
19 th century China. Bronze.
H: 84 / 85 D: 58 / 55 cm
Provenance: Charlie Chaplin, Corsier-sur-Vevey, Lake Geneva, Switzerland
Distinguished Private Collection, London, UK
TIAOZHUO
Qianlong Period (1736 - 95) China.
Hardwood, brown and gilt lacquer.
H: 85.5 W: 141 D: 44 cm
Provenance:
Private Collection: London, UK
The present side tables or tiaozhuo are magnificently decorated in brown and gilt lacquer, mellowed over time to create a rich, layered surface. The rectangular tops are painted with sprays of flowers, birds and butterflies amongst blooms, flowering plants and branches within shaped panels on fretwork and diapers grounds, above a waisted friezes pierced with elliptical openings containing open fretwork, above aprons decorated with floral tracery issuing leaves, lotus plants, camellia flowers and dahlia blooms and pierced fretwork corner brackets, raised on chamfered legs joined with openwork stretchers, similarly decorated in a dark brown lacquer with gilded designs on a red base.
The tables bear close relation to the example in The Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illus. Hu Desheng, The Palace Museum Collection: A Treasury of Ming & Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, Volume I, trans. Curtis Evarts (Beijing, 2007), pp. 220-21, fig. 245.
Further articles for comparison are to be found in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture (Kodansha International, 1979), fig. 182 and ‘The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II)’, no. 54, The Commercial Press (Hong Kong, 2002), pl. 89.
The Qianlong period (1735-1795) was a zenith of Chinese artistic and cultural production. During this time, the flowering of the arts that had occurred under emperors Kangxi (1661-1722) and Yongzheng (17221735) reached its height as architecture, painting, porcelain, jade and ivory work flourished with a final brilliance before later Chinese artisans produced increasingly for the export market.
The Qianlong period was the highpoint of lacquer wood furnishings such as the present tables. Introduced and popularised under Qianlong’s father, Emperor Yongzheng, they often combined lively foliate motifs, as on the present pair, reflecting the assimilation into Chinese design of the European Rococo brought to the imperial Qing Court by Jesuit missionaries.
Emperor Qianlong himself was greatly immersed in the arts. He practised calligraphy, Chinese painting and was a keen essayist and poet, publishing over 1,300 pieces of prose and 40,000 poems which he added as inscriptions to the paintings and historical artworks in his principal residence, The Palace of Tranquil Longevity in the Forbidden City. Qianlong wrote more poetry in his lifetime than all the poets of the golden age of poetry in China, the Tang Dynasty (618-906), combined and is one of the most prolific writers of all time.
Qianlong collected art assiduously, acquiring the great private collections of the seventeenth century and integrating them into the Imperial Collection, undertaking vast projects to preserve and restore Chinese heritage and Confucian culture. Most of the several thousand jade items in the imperial collection date from his reign and his especial interest in ancient bronzes, seals, ceramics and enamels, metal and lacquer works prompted him to document these collected works in comprehensive, lavish catalogues.
Embracing the arts of other cultures, Qianlong received missionary artists Giuseppe Castiglione and Jean-Denis Attiret at court who inflected Chinese art with imported styles. He amassed a great collection of European clocks, which he had copied in his court workshops, and at Yuanmingyuan Palace near Beijing, where over the course of his reign he came to reside more and more, he increased the estate and erected new buildings in the European manner. At his request, Jesuits built residences and gardens in modified Italian Baroque and Rococo styles around fountains like those of Versailles in France.
With their exceptional quality and ornate design, it is entirely possible that this pair of tiaozhuo adorned the interior of a Qianlong imperial palace, if not at Yuanmingyuan then the Forbidden City.
THE HONGS OF CANTON
On viewing this detailed picture, one’s attention is immediately drawn to the striking array of flags - Danish, Spanish, French, American, Swedish, British, and Dutch. Behind them, facing the river, stands a parade of buildings of European-inspired architecture, featuring classical pediments, colonnades and pilasters. To the right, hills rise, and below them, a Chinese city with crenelated walls emerges.
'In fact the artist was Chinese, using largely western principles of perspective. The composition is far removed from the traditions of classical Chinese art; and yet, with its headon presentation and overall sharpeness of detail, it is hardly typical of Western painting either. This is a Chinese 'export painting'...
- Patrick Conner
c. 1800
Chinese, Canton. Gouache on paper.
H: 15.5 W: 23 cm
Provenance:
Martyn Gregory, Hong Kong, 14 th May 1989
Illustrated P. Conner, The Hongs of Canton: Western merchants in South China 1700-1900 (London, 2009). fig. 0.1
In the river, a fortified island contains a temple and we also see that most of the vessels are distinctly Chinese — from seagoing junks to covered sampans — except for two small sailing boats flying an A m erican flags.
The diverse flags show an international enclave where people from various nations are settled side by side in elegant yet dense -
ly-packed structures. These buildings are the factories or ‘hongs’ of Canton, the vital trading link between China and the West.
Situated in the suburbs of Canton, outside the city walls, these factories were occupied by foreign merchants.
The artist also draws our eyes to the two large central ships, which are distinguished
from the the other junks. The ships bear the rank badge or buzi of the crane, signifying the highest civil rank and possibly the presence on board of an important civil official.
Whil e most export paintings of Canton focus solely on the hongs, this picture offers a broader perspective, showing the factories in relation to the surrounding city and moun -
tains. Within the city walls, which are visible above the rooftops and along the distant hill’s ridge, four of Canton’s historic landmarks stand out.
Closest to the factories is the grey minaret of the Huaisheng Mosque, known as the ‘light tower’ for its former role as a beacon for river vessels. To its right, at the edge of the
painting, is the pagoda of the Six Banyan Temple. Further up the hill is the Guanyin Temple, surrounded by trees, and to its right is the five-story Zhenhai Tower, which overlooks the city from the north wall. Although the Guanyin Temple has since been replaced by the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, the other landmarks remain today.
The river fort on the right, once known to Westerners as the Dutch Folly Fort, has since disappeared, but for centuries it was one of the city’s defining features and frequently appeared in early depictions of Canton.
John M’Leod, Narrative of a Voyage in His Majesty’s late ship Alceste, to the Yellow Sea..., 1817, 146-7
‘Canton may be considered the most interesting city in China. It is one of the first in point of size, and, perhaps, the very first with respect to wealth; and... the traveller has the advantage of viewing the Chinese as connected with Europeans.’
9.
JARS AND COVERS
This fine set of three jars and covers are delicately painted with charming scenes of rural Chinese life. Grand pagodas stand beside waterways writhing with lively fish - great mountains in the distance - and elegant figures in fenced gardens court whilst, in the background, an onlooker, typically found in such scenes, oberves discreetly from behind a tree.
An identical jar is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Accession No. 14.40.231a, b) and another is illustrated in Gorer, Edgar and Blacker, J. F., Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones , vol. II (London, 1911), pl. 153.
Kangxi Period (1662 - 1722)
Chinese, Jingdezhen.
Porcelain, famille verte and gilt enamels on a powerder-blue ground.
H: 45 D: 25 cm
PAIR OF DISHES
This pair of large dishes is a fine example of a rare type. Each has a deep cavetto with a shaped cartouche containing the same scene of Chinese domestic life. Each cartouche is on a hatched silver ground with arabesque foliage within an outer band with shaped panels of scrolling gilt grasses in an oange field and inky blooms inside a bright lime border, all on a charcoal ground.
Compare an identical dish exhibited in Marchant & Son, Chinese Export Porcelain , (London, 2015), cat. no. 11, in addition to a group of plates and four larger dishes from the collection of Lord Margadale of Islay at Fonthill House, Wiltshire and sold at Christie’s London, 31 st May 1965, lot 52.
Another pair is illustrated in G. C. Williamson, The Book of Famille Rose (London, 1927), pl. XLVII, and another was exhibited by Yu Chunming in the Nanchang University Museum Exhibition Jing Yan , 2012, cat. no. 20.
Yongzheng Period (1722 - 35)
Chinese, Jingdezhen. Porcelain, famille rose enamels.
H: 4.5 W: 38.5 cm
