Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 249

A pair of small famille rose boar-head tureens and covers
Qianlong

16 May 2019, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £17,562.50 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

A pair of small famille rose boar-head tureens and covers

Qianlong
Both animal heads naturalistically modelled with raised snouts and staring eyes, the mouths wide open revealing tongue, teeth and a pair of short tusks, the snout and ears glazed in iron-red, the hide carefully rendered with delicate hairline strokes of brown. Each 16cm (6 1/4in) long. (4).

Footnotes

清乾隆 粉彩豬首蓋罐一對

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 5 November 1991, lot 139
A distinguished European private collection

來源:倫敦蘇富比,1991年11月5日,拍品編號139
歐洲顯貴私人收藏

Boar-head tureens made in China were privately commissioned by wealthy European families to delight the eye and enthrall the heart during banquets, while also impressing on their guests the host's wealth and status. The nostrils of this boar-head tureen would allow the steam to escape from the hot food inside, helping to create a more realistic effect.

Their use relates to the European medieval tradition of serving meat in animal heads at certain banquets or celebrations. William Sargent argues that the ceramic boar-head tureens derive from this specific tradition, and points out that animal head tureens were apparently first made at Strasbourg, in Alsace Lorraine, by Paul Hannong, between 1748-54. The idea clearly caught on quickly; a Chelsea porcelain example was offered at auction in March 1755. However, most of the ceramic versions are of Continental European origin, potted and glazed with tin oxides as earthenware vessels, not fine porcelain. See a larger similar boar-head tureen and cover, Qianlong, illustrated by M.Cohen and W.Motley, Mandarin and Menagerie: Chinese and Japanese Export Ceramic Figures, Surrey, 2008, p.185, no.12.5.

See a similar pair of boar's head tureens and covers, Qianlong, which were sold at Christie's New York, 26 January 2015, lot 143.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Mille Miglia eligible 1930 Lancia Dilambda 1st Series Sports Tourer

Chanel: a Lilac Aged Calfskin 'Kelly' Mini Bag Spring 2024

1931 Invicta 4.5-Litre S-Type Low Chassis Sports

2012 Bentley Mulsanne Saloon

The ex-Earls Court Motor Show 1968 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 Coupé

49 kilometres from new 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS Targa Coupé

Chanel: a Navy Blue Crocodile Camellia Mini Flap Bag 2017-18

Chanel: a Simulated Pearl Necklace and Earring Suite Collection 26, Autumn/Winter 1991

Hermès: a Nata Swift Leather In-and-Out Retourne Kelly 25 Limited Edition, 2022

Hermès: a Shiny Miel Crocodile Sellier Kelly 32 2012

Hermès: a Rose Pourpre Epsom Leather Sellier Kelly 28 2018

Chanel: a Crystal and Simulated Pearl Long Necklace 1990s

Emanuele Pantanella: a Carved Hardwood 'Toucan' Clutch Bag 1990s

Hermès: a Shiny Black Niloticus Crocodile Sellier Kelly 32 1997

Offered from an important overseas collection 1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer

Hermès: a Bleu Saphir Niloticus Lizard Birkin 25 2018

Hermès: a Bleu Frida Chamkila Chevre Leather Mirror Constance 18 2023

Property of a deceased's estate 1972 De Tomaso Mangusta Coupé