Two lions mounted as candlesticks 1700-25, mounts: early 19th century
Porcelain with turquoise and purple glaze with gilt bronze | 24.0 x 9.5 x 5.1 cm (whole object) | RCIN 3572
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Pair of Chinese porcelain lions mounted as candlesticks. Male lion seated on its haunches, the raised left paw on a rod piercing an embroidered ball. The head turned to the left and the jaws open, with coils of fur on the neck and back, the incised mane ending in a bushy tail. Supported on the back is a hexagonal beaker, set in the mouth of which is a tulip-shaped gilt-bronze cup rising from a ring of leaves. The turquoise model sits on a purple rectangular plinth pierced with ruyi-heads.
Turquoise glazes, Islamic in origin, are found in Chinese pottery from the Song period (960–1279) onwards. Used later on porcelain, they were, as a rule, applied to a biscuit fired body and baked at medium temperatures. These wares were especially admired in France in the eighteenth century when the glaze was known as bleu celeste, and were favoured by Queen Marie Antoinette.Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, Volume II.
Provenance
Almost certainly George IV. Formerly at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and recorded as ‘A pair of small turquoise blue nozzle back Kylins, perforated purple pedestals with ormolu Lotus mouldings for one light each, ten inches [25.4 cm]’ (1829B, p. 75); and noted in the Principal Corridor, Buckingham Palace, in March 1921 (1829B, p. 75).
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Creator(s)
(nationality)(metalworker)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Porcelain with turquoise and purple glaze with gilt bronze
Measurements
24.0 x 9.5 x 5.1 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
