A pair of Qianlong Period (1735-1795) brown and gilt lacquer tiaozhuo side tables of particularly elegant and well-balanced, long rectangular form, raised on four straight legs of square section terminating in hoof feet, made in softwood. The sides are joined by elaborate aprons with pierced fretwork earpieces and intricate floral tracery issuing leaves, lotus and camellia flowers and dahlia blooms, all below a waisted frieze pierced with elliptical openings, each also containing open fretwork. The gilt painted legs bear the same floral motifs and tracery and are united at the short ends by pierced, scrolled stretchers with openwork spandrels.

The tiaozhuo are painted overall in a dark brown lacquer with gilded designs on a red base, to create a rich, tri-colour surface. Their tops are decorated with three shaped panels containing depictions of birds amongst flowering plants on a fretwork ground, all of which within a rectangular frame, itself divided by shaped panels containing flower sprays on a diaper ground.

The tiaozhuo are in wonderful, original condition and retain exceptional, rich colour and patination throughout.

The Qianlong Period 

The Qianlong period (1735-1795) is widely considered the zenith of Chinese artistic and cultural production. During this time, the flowering of the arts that had occurred under the previous emperors Kangxi (1661-1722) and Yongzheng (1722-1735) reached its height as architecture, painting, porcelain, jade and ivory work flourished with a final brilliance before later Chinese artisans produced increasingly for the export market.

The Qianlong period was the highpoint of lacquer wood furnishings such as these tables. Introduced and popularised under Qianlong’s father, Emperor Yongzheng, they often integrated lively foliate motifs, as on the present pair, reflecting the assimilation into Chinese design of the European Rococo brought to the imperial Qing Court by Jesuit missionaries.

Emperor Qianlong himself was greatly immersed in the arts. He practised calligraphy, Chinese painting and was a keen essayist and poet, publishing over 1,300 pieces of prose and 40,000 poems which he added as inscriptions to the paintings and historical artworks in his principal residence, The Palace of Tranquil Longevity in the Forbidden City. Qianlong wrote more poetry in his lifetime than all the poets of the golden age of poetry in China, the Tang Dynasty (618-906), combined and is one of the most prolific writers of all time.

Qianlong collected art assiduously, acquiring the great private collections of the seventeenth century and reintegrating them into the Imperial Collection, undertaking vast projects to preserve and restore Chinese heritage and Confucian culture. Most of the several thousand jade items in the imperial collection date from his reign and his especial interest in ancient bronzes, bronze mirrors, seals, pottery, ceramics and enamels, metal and lacquer works prompted him to document these collected works in comprehensive, lavish catalogues.

Embracing the arts of other cultures, namely those European, Japanese and Indian, Qianlong received missionaries and artists Giuseppe Castiglione and Jean-Denis Attiret at court and inflected Chinese art with imported styles. He amassed a great collection of European clocks, which he had copied in his court workshops, and at Yuanmingyuan Palace near Beijing, where over the course of his reign he came to reside more and more, he increased the estate and erected new buildings in the European manner. At his request, several Jesuits built residences and gardens in a modified Italian Baroque and Rococo styles around fountains like those of Versailles in France.

With their exceptional quality and ornate design, it is entirely possible that this pair of tiaozhuo adorned the interior of a Qianlong imperial palace, if not at Yuanmingyuan then the Forbidden City.