Une paire de lions boudhistes (Shizi) en blanc de Chine - Dynastie Qing, XIXème siècle

Chacun modelé assis sur une base en bois, la tête inclinée et la gueule ouverte avec une belle expression, un collier de grelots autour du cou, le mâle la patte posée sur une balle de brocart, la femelle accompagnée de deux chiots, sur des socles en bois sculpté. 37 cm, hors socle

Each modelled seated in opposing poses their heads turned at different angles, the male looking to its left with fierce stare, the bulging eyes slightly shaded beneath bushy curled eyebrows, the left foreleg raised upon a large reticulated 'brocade' ball set with studs, the impressive beast adorned with a collar of bells and applied with long locks of hair and snail-shell curls with a particularly fine openwork bushy tail, the female lion looking slightly up to her right, her snarling mouth open to grasp the paw of one animated lion cub clambering up her shoulder and looking down at the second lion cub struggling to escape beneath the heavy paw of the mother and draped beneath a long scarf, the details of the cubs equally finely executed, wood stand  14 9/16 in., w/o base.

Estimate: 8,000—12,000 EUR - Prix réalisé: 39,150  €

CATALOGUE NOTE:

Grand et petit lion (dashi xiaoshi) est une homophonie de taishi shaoshi, " que vos descendants obtiennent une position sociale de rang élevée".

These shizi are exceptional by their size and elaborate modeling. Another pair sold in our New York rooms, March 20th, 2007, lot 771. Large Buddhist lions were also exhibited in Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 1990, cat.no. 53. Far smaller lions with similar modelling, also within the late 18th or early 19th century tradition, see R. Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine. The Great Porcelain of Dehua , Berkeley, 2002, p. 90,

Sotheby's Paris. Asian Arts. 12 Jun 08 04:00 PM