Lot 446. A Rare Pair of Chinese Export 'Nodding Head' Figures, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period (1736-1795); height overall 15 3/8 in.; 39.1 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

each modeled with the hair braided and wrapped around the removable head and set with a counterweight, the face with a gentle smiling expression, with the right arm and hand raised, the outer robe enameled black and decorated with gilt dragon roundels, all above a longer yellow robe painted with turquoise clouds, the edges heightened with sepia and gilt waves.

Property of an Important Midwestern Collection.

Provenance: Santos, London.

Note: A nearly identical figure, formerly in the collection of Mr. Basil and the Hon. Mrs. Ionides, is illustrated in Margaret Jourdain and R. Soame Jenyns, Chinese Export Art in hte Eighteenth Century, London, 1950, cat. no. 72. This example, along with its mate, sold in our London rooms, February 18th, 1964, lot 325. A single example with an associated head, also from the Ionides collection, sold in our London rooms, July 2nd 1963, lot 148. Compare four 'nodding head' figures of similar size and enameling, two men and two ladies, illustrated in Maria Antónia Pinto de Matos, The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, London, 2019, cat. no. 189.