AN IRON-RED AND GILT-DECORATED PORCELAIN CANDLESTICK China, late Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). The domed base supporting a sprawling dish tray which holds a tapered cylinder with a smaller dish tray resting on its top, designed to carry the candle. Overall decorated in iron-red with two sinuously coiled dragons, chasing the magical pearl amid clouds and flames, the edges and dragons with gilt lining, the foot rim and dish rim with a band of crashing waves. This lot is accompanied by a beautiful antique candle carved with a similar design.

The present lot would have originally served as a part of a garniture set for ritual or ancestral altars. The most popular set was the five-piece wugong, which besides two candlesticks also included a censer and two gu vases.

Condition: Good condition with minor wear and firing flaws as well as remnants of filling material between the joints. The candle with minor losses.
Provenance: The Dons family, Erik Dons (1915-2002) and Cecilie Margrethe Dons (1925-), Oslo.

Weight: 2830 g (the candlestick), 361 g (the candle)
Dimensions: Height 39 cm

Auction comparison: For a candlestick with similar decoration see Bonhams Hong Kong, in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 2 June 2016, lot 6, sold for HK$ 3,040,000.

Literature comparison: Compare to a related candlestick, but with different decoration in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, accession number 21.175.20.