A RARE LARGE IMPERIAL IVORY EMBELLISHED MIRROR AND GILT-LACQUERED WOOD STAND QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD |

the circular mirror set with a narrow wooden frame and meticulously embellished on the reverse in stained ivory, gilt metal, soapstone and kingfisher feathers with a dynamic scene of numerous Daoist figures and immortals amidst pavilions set in a riverscape setting, each portrayed clad in multi-coloured attire accentuated with fine details, some rendered riding mythical beasts, others holding various tributes, including a peach and ruyi sceptres, the frame supported as a pearl on the gilt-lacquered stand carved in the form of a three-legged toad with its head tilted upwards and issuing wisps of ruyi clouds, all resting on a further wood stand carved to simulate jagged rockwork

Collection of Mr and Mrs Lockhart.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2nd May 2005, lot 567.

On loan to the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.A., until 1995.

This sumptuous mirror and stand boasts of the economic and cultural wealth of the Qing Empire as well as the Qianlong Emperor’s patronage of various religious institutions including Daoism. Compare an intricately carved ivory screen mounted on a swirling cloud base to form a miniature pavilion, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai, 2001, pl. 179. In its meticulous execution that brings together precious materials, the reverse of the present mirror is reminiscent of panels of the Qianlong period; for example see one, decorated with ‘one hundred birds’, sold in these rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 3614. The combination of an ivory embellished mirror with a gilt-painted stand in the form of a three-legged toad, which has long been associated with wealth due to its ability to spit out coins, is particularly rare. While no other related example appears to have been published, similarly fashioned toad-form stands are known; for example see a similarly composed hardwood stand, attributed to the 18th/19th century, which would also have formed the base of a circular plaque, from the Lionel Rosenberg collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 17th September 2015, lot 1054, together with a zitan version with flat top, attributed to the 18th century, lot 1090.