A pair of small famille rose boar-head tureens and covers


QianlongBoth animal heads naturalistically modelled with raised snouts and staring eyes, the mouths wide open revealing tongue, teeth and a pair of short tusks, the snout and ears glazed in iron-red, the hide carefully rendered with delicate hairline strokes of brown. Each 16cm (6 1/4in) long. (4).
|清乾隆 粉彩豬首蓋罐一對Provenance: Sotheby's London, 5 November 1991, lot 139A distinguished European private collection來源：倫敦蘇富比，1991年11月5日，拍品編號139歐洲顯貴私人收藏Boar-head tureens made in China were privately commissioned by wealthy European families to delight the eye and enthrall the heart during banquets, while also impressing on their guests the host's wealth and status. The nostrils of this boar-head tureen would allow the steam to escape from the hot food inside, helping to create a more realistic effect. Their use relates to the European medieval tradition of serving meat in animal heads at certain banquets or celebrations. William Sargent argues that the ceramic boar-head tureens derive from this specific tradition, and points out that animal head tureens were apparently first made at Strasbourg, in Alsace Lorraine, by Paul Hannong, between 1748-54. The idea clearly caught on quickly; a Chelsea porcelain example was offered at auction in March 1755. However, most of the ceramic versions are of Continental European origin, potted and glazed with tin oxides as earthenware vessels, not fine porcelain. See a larger similar boar-head tureen and cover, Qianlong, illustrated by M.Cohen and W.Motley, Mandarin and Menagerie: Chinese and Japanese Export Ceramic Figures, Surrey, 2008, p.185, no.12.5.See a similar pair of boar's head tureens and covers, Qianlong, which were sold at Christie's New York, 26 January 2015, lot 143.