Lot 771. An outstanding and fine pair of 'blanc-de-chine' Dehua large Buddhist Lions, Qing dynasty, 18th-19th Century; 15 1/4 in., 38.5 cm. Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 USD. Lot sold 84,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

each superbly modelled seated in opposing poses with their large 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.

Note: The present pair of lions are among the finest and best preserved of this type, and the level of detail, sculpture animation, and charisma imparted the lions and two cubs is remarkable. A very similar pair of large Buddhist lions were exhibited in Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 1990, cat.no. 53, with almost identical modelling of the lions, but different placement of the two cubs. Far smaller lions with similar modelling are also to be found on rectangular plinths set with columnar taper-holders, 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, pl. A, but clearly the present pair represents the zenith of the form.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including Property from the Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 19-20 march 2007