A pair of  Chinese cloisonne FI figures of yellow deer. Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Photo Gibson Antiques

Modelled standing, facing left or right, their coats yellow with white spots, their eyes also picked out in white enamel, the ears, horns, tails and legs gilt-metal. Height:16cm, Length: 15cm - Priice 18 000 €

Provenance: John Macallan Swan RA (1847-1910)

The animal painter and sculptor John Macallan Swan studied at the Lambeth School of Art under W. S. Frith, and like many others, then went on to the Royal Academy Schools, in 1872. Two years later he went to Paris, where he spent 4-5 years under Gerome, then under the animal sculptor Fremiet, and the painters Bastien-Lepage, Henecker and Dagnan-Bouveret, all this making him ‘perhaps as French as an Englishman could well be’. He then settled in London, convenient for studying animals and animal anatomy at London Zoo. It was not until 1878 that he sent his first work to the Royal Academy (Dante and the Leopard), and his reputation was on the Continent only, until 1889. In that year, his picture at the Academy, The Prodigal Son, was bought under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. 

He was elected ARA in 1894, had an exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 1897, and became RA in 1905.

Gibson Antiques. 7 Georgian House, 10 Bury Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6AA - t 00 44 (0) 7831 645468 - alastair@gibsonantiques.com -www.gibsonantiques.com