Lot 141. A rare pair of gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel 'double-gourd' lanterns, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 34.4cm., 13 5/8 in. Estimate 160,000 — 180,000 GBP. Lot sold 146,500 GBP. © Sotheby's

each of square double-gourd form rising from a high spreading foot to a waisted neck, set to each side with a glass panel variously painted and gilded with bats and emblems from the bajixiang amidst cloud scrolls, each framed by brightly enamelled lotus lappet and lotus strapwork bands edged with archaistic gilt-bronze scrollwork, the neck with bats and wan symbols between lotus lappet bands.

Provenance: Christie's London, 9 November 2010, lot 262.

Note: Lanterns of this type were made to serve a dual purpose of providing lighting as well as decoration to the imperial palaces. They were suspended from the ceilings, with pagoda-form covers and were further embellished with tassels to resemble architectural structures. Inset with painted glass panels, such lanterns were made in various materials as seen in several pairs pictured in situ, including a cloisonné enamel pair and a single wood version, in the Yangxin Dian (Hall of Mental Cultivation), illustrated in The Palace Museum: Peking. Treasures of the Forbidden City, London, 1982, pp 64, 65 and 67, together with another pair made of wood, in the throne room of the Palace of Eternal Spring (one of the Six West Palaces in the Forbidden City), p. 71; and a pair of carved ivory lanterns, from the Western Chamber of the Yangxin Dian, published in the catalogue to the exhibition Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 38, fig. 14. Compare also a painted enamel lantern of this form, decorated with lotus scrolls on a blue ground, the glass depicting the characters da and fu on the upper and lower tiers respectively, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, is included in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 228. 

These lanterns are highly auspicious in both form and decoration. The double gourd was a popular motif in the decorative arts of the Qing dynasty due to the fruit’s symbolic association for numerous sons due to its many seeds.  Furthermore the bats suspending endless knots represent endless blessings, as the characters for knot (panchang), and bat (fu), form the rebus changfu, which literally means endless blessings. Scattered throughout the decoration are also wan symbols, which represent eternity, and clouds to signify high rank and power.

Cloisonné enamel lanterns were also made to sit on table tops; see a pair of rectangular form, the glass panels painted with shou characters bordered with a lotus and geometric scroll, sold at Christie’s New York, 24th March 2011, lot 1617; and another pair, but with plain glass panels, sold in these rooms, 28th October 1983, lot 51.