EXCEPTIONNELLE PAIRE D'ARMOIRES EN LAQUE 'QIANGJIN' à DéCOR DES CENT ENFANTS, SIJIANGUI DYNASTIE QING, éPOQUE QIANLONG  

清乾隆 戧金填漆百子圖四件櫃一對

AN EXCEPTIONAL PAIR OF QIANGJIN LACQUER 'ONE HUNDRED BOYS' COMPOUND CABINETS, SIJIANGUI, QIANLONG PERIOD

de forme rectangulaire, chacune décorée sur trois faces d'un riche et rare décor en laque rouge, vert foncé et ocre sur fond brun soulignée à l'or (qiangjin) dit "aux cent enfants" dans un fastueux décor palatial érigé dans une nature luxuriante aux symboles auspicieux, composées de deux larges portes dévoilant une étagère au-dessus de deux tiroirs, chacune sommée de cabinets reprenant un décor analogue et ouvrant à deux, les c?tés décorés chacun de trois compositions florales embellies de couples d'oiseaux virevoltant, les pourtours à décor de Phoenix et dragons dans des rinceaux lotiformes, les tabliers des armoires chantournés richement décorés dans des réserves polylobées de neufs lions bouddhistes jouant avec des pelotes, les serrures et charnières en bronze doré richement incisé de puissants dragons  

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250,5 x 111,8 x 48,3 cm, 98? by 44 by 19 in.

250.5 x 111.8 x 48.3 公分， 98?x 44 x 19 英寸

Four-part cabinets, sijiangui, were the largest type of furniture produced by Ming and Qing cabinets-makers, and the present pair is particularly impressive for the exquisitely painted scenes of boys and court ladies. The design is painted in polychrome lacquer and engraved in the onerous qianjin technique. A decorative method that required engraving the surface of the lacquer with a tool and filling the incised lines with gold leaf, this technique was labor-intensive and time-consuming, and was therefore only rarely used on such large pieces of furniture.

The lavishly decorated front panels of this pair of cabinets suggest they were made as a gift for a court wedding. The cabinets are decorated with exactly one hundred children engaged in numerous activities, from playing with a hobby horse, to masquerading as officials and playing hide and seek. Known in Chinese as baizitu (‘one hundred boys at play’), this motif refers to the sons of King Wen, the legendary father of the founder of the Zhou dynasty, King Wu, who had ninety-nine sons and adopted one more to arrive at one hundred. In the Ming and Qing dynasty, this motif came to represent the wish for many meritorious sons, and was reproduced on numerous objects made in a variety of media, including lacquer, textiles and porcelain. These cabinets are however particularly remarkable for their use of a single vanishing point perspective, a technique to depict receding space that was seldom used in China prior to the 18^th century and was imported from the West.

Such depictions of ladies and children were often inspired by contemporary paintings by prominent court artists, such as Jiao Bingzhen (1689-1726) and Leng Mei (1677-after 1742), who often painted scenes of court life. These cabinets appear to depict existing buildings in the Forbidden City, the most recognizable being the double-roofed pavilion, which resembles the pavilion built within the compound commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor for his mother’s 50^th birthday. Built in 1741 to the west of the Forbidden City, the depiction of this pavilion provides a terminus post quem for the manufacture of these cabinets. It is also tempting to suggest that the cabinets were made to be housed in the vicinity of this pavilion, which was later dismantled and rebuilt in the Temple of Heaven. Other buildings on these cabinets can be compared to those photographed by Osvald Sirén for his book The Imperial Palaces in Pékin, Paris, 1926, vol. I-III.  

Made of a large square-corner cabinet below and a smaller chest above, the sheer size and decoration of four-part cabinets such as this pair, were designed to create an impression of awe upon any visitor. Generally made in pairs, they were displayed either side by side or on opposite walls, in inner reception halls or in women’s private quarters. Their large size made them ideal for storing large robes, which were folded into flat triangles. The less accessible top chest, which often required a ladder to reach, was used for storing accessories or garments that were needed less frequently, such as fur coats and hats.

Similar lacquer cabinets include a pair, decorated in the qianjin and tianqi technique with floral and landscape panels, in the Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, accession no. 2001.173a-b; a cabinet with birds and flowers is illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, Tokyo, 1979, pl. 175; and another from the Arthur M. Sackler collection, is published in Lee Yu-kuan, Oriental Lacquer Art, New York, 1972, pl. 247. See also a compound cabinet painted with ladies in landscape against a black ground, in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession no. 97.8a-f.

Beyond their sumptuous appearance and imperial association, the importance of these two cabinets also lies in their subsequent provenance. Having made their way to Europe, they continued their glamorous life in the grand interiors of Villa La Fiorentina in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in France, as they entered the collection of Enid, Countess of Kenmare (1892-1972). Here they were acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Harding L. Lawrence, and later entered the prestigious collection of Ann and Gordon Getty in San Francisco, California.

 Norton Museum cabinets:

https://www.norton.org/collections/chinese

Minneapolis Museum of Art cabinet:

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/5482/compound-wardrobe-cabinet-china

清代家具中，四件櫃份屬碩大之類。此對櫃工精藝巧，以戧金填漆，刻劃庭閣仕女，孩童玩耍，樂也融融。戧金填漆之技，藝匠須先以雕刻或堆漆方法勾勒圖案，內施各色彩漆並磨平，輪廓則以金填嵌。此藝耗工費時，是以多用於小件，大器如斯，尤為珍罕。

頂箱與立櫃門飾樣祥瑞，刻劃百子，嬉戲院中，作為宮廷囍事賀禮，尤為宜適，或為此而製。傳說周文王膝下有兒九十九，收養了雷震子，恰好湊成一百，百子圖正是依此說而生。文王其中一子日後更開朝建國，是為周武王。明清之時，百子圖因其意涵祥瑞，大行其道，見飾於各式工藝，漆器、織品、瓷器，五花八門。此對櫃構圖，採用十八世紀從西方傳入的單點透視，讓場景更形立體。

此類仕女嬰戲圖，或受如焦秉貞（1689-1726年）及冷枚（1677-1742年後）等宮廷畫家的作品啓發。對櫃所描繪的建築，與紫禁城內殿閣甚為接近，尤其是重檐亭樓，跟高宗在乾隆六年（1741年）為慶祝崇慶皇太后五旬大壽在中海興建的亭閣風格一致，為對櫃提供了年代上限。中海亭閣，雖有在天壇重建，原樓已不復存，仍可參見喜仁龍著作中的舊照，《中國北京皇城寫真全圖》，巴黎，1926年，卷II。對櫃上的其他建築也可與喜仁龍書中皇家樓宇相對照。

四件櫃一般成對而製，置於內堂或閨房，可並排，也可相對，宏碩壯觀，若滿飾華麗如此，必讓訪客讚嘆不已。寬大袍服，若摺成三角形，平放疊置立櫃中，尤為合適。頂箱因其高度，須靠梯子才可觸及，因此多用作置存較少穿戴的衣飾，如皮草或帽子。

參考美國棕櫚灘諾頓藝術博物館藏一對戧金填漆開光山水花卉四件櫃，編號2001.173a-b（https://www.norton.org/collections/chinese）；一件花鳥紋櫃，收錄在 Michel Beurdeley，《Chinese Furniture》，東京，1979年，圖版175；以及亞瑟．賽克勒舊藏例，見李汝寬，《Oriental Lacquer Art》，紐約，1972年，圖版247。明尼阿波利斯美術館也有一黑地彩漆仕女山水圖頂竪櫃，編號97.8a-f（https://collections.artsmia.org/art/5482/compound-wardrobe-cabinet-china）。

此對四件櫃來源顯赫，曾為肯梅爾伯爵夫人 Enid（1892-1972年）珍藏，置於法國聖讓卡弗爾拉（Saint Jean Cap Ferrat）顯赫大宅佛羅倫斯別墅（Villa La Fiorentina），又先後轉入 Harding L. Lawrence 伉儷、以及加洲三藩市戈登．蓋蒂伉儷（Ann and Gordon Getty）珍藏，甚為難得。