A PAIR OF CHINESE CELADON JADE GOOSE AND TORTOISE PRICKET CANDLESTICKS

QIANLONG 1736-95

Each carved with outstretched wings clutching a sacred pearl in its beak, supporting drip pans with tall prickets, and standing upon a tortoise supported by two snakes, encircled by bands of crashing waves and C-shaped scrolls, the exterior of the bases with lotus petals and raised on three short ruyi bracket feet, with wood stands, 23cm. (4)

Provenance: by direction of the executors of the late Sylvia Quance (d.20th September 2020). From the collection of Gordon W Quance LLM (1931-2017), purchased from Spink & Son Ltd., London, on 18th June 1963, a copy of the invoice is available.

Cf. Y Wan, S Wang and Y Lu, Life in the Forbidden City of Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2007, fig.205, for a jade candlestick of the same design; see also S C Nott, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, pl.XCI, for a closely related Qianlong model; see also Bonhams London, 5th November 2009, lot 260 for another example.

The imagery of a goose standing on a tortoise in breaking waves is referring to a legendary phrase 'haiyan heqing' from a Tang poem praising the tranquility and peaceful world. Tortoise, gui, puns on guiren, meaning noble sages; sea goose, haiyan puns on haiyan, meaning the tranquil sea, suggesting the wish of peace and harmony. The Yellow River will become crystal clear and the sea will be calm upon the arrival of the sages.