A pair of very rare candlesticks after a European Baroque model in Canton enamel

Description:

China, Qianlong period
H. 16,8 cm
On a broadly projecting stands with a vase-shaped shaft and lotus-shaped drip tray. Finely painted in the colours of the 'Famille rose' palette with flowers and foliage.
European private collection, family-owned before 1970, originally collected in the second half of the 19th century in the diplomatic service in China - One candlestick with old collection label no. 57
Cf. a candelabra published by Jorge Welsh 'China of All Colours - Painted Enamels on Copper', London 2015, no. 72 with further references to chandeliers in the European style. For a candlestick in the Hermitage collections, see Arapova, Chinese Enamel Painting - Collection of the State Ermitage, Moscow 1987, no. 23. - Minor enamel losses and old overpainmting on the stand and shaft, one lotus-leaf-shaped drip pan old overpainted, the second with very few old overpaint