A pair of famille-rose 'lotus' emblem stands, Seal marks and period of Qianlong

New York Private Collection, acquired prior to 1980.

The present lot comprises altar stands associated with the ‘Seven Royal Treasures’ (qizhengbao or qizhen) of Buddhism. According to the Mahābherīhāraka Sūtra (Great Drum Sūtra), the Universal Monarch descended to earth bearing seven regal symbols: the Wheel of the Law, the Elephant, the Horse, the Jewel, the Queen, the Minister, and the General. These emblems, later adopted into Buddhist iconography, were offered to Sakyamuni Buddha and came to signify his protective and pacifying powers. Closely linked to the ideal of sage kingship, with which Chinese emperors frequently aligned themselves, the ‘Seven Royal Treasures’ gained particular prominence as decorative and ritual motifs within the Qing imperial court. A complete 18th-century set in the Chengde Imperial Mountain Resort Museum, Chengde, was included in the exhibition Imperial China. The Living Past, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1992, cat. no. 79.

Porcelain altar emblem stands of this type are extremely rare, likely owing to their fragility and the limited scale of their manufacture for specific ritual contexts. A closely related stand, similarly lacking its original finial, was sold in our London rooms, 6th June 1995, lot 257, and later at Bonhams London, 10th November 2011, lot 94. For comparable complete examples, see a related pair surmounted by an elephant and a horse, with iron-red Qianlong seal marks and of the period, sold at Christie’s London, 8th June 2004, lot 437; and a further Qianlong-marked altar emblem stand with an elephant finial, sold in these rooms, 22nd March 2023, lot 755.