17th C. Chinese Ming Dynasty Bronzes
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GUEST:
I inherited these lamps from my parents. They were teachers living in New York City. In the summer of 1951, they drove from New York to Mexico, and they brought back some interesting objects, including these. Now, they weren't lamps when they acquired them. They were just these statues. I think it was in 1967, we moved to a new apartment, and my mother hired a decorator, and it was the decorator's idea to have them become lamps.
APPRAISER:
I love that your parents took such a great journey to go and get these figures. What's interesting is that these figures took a journey of their own, because they're not actually Mexican.
GUEST:
Ah.
APPRAISER:
They're actually Chinese. And they actually date to the 17th century, the Ming Dynasty.
GUEST:
Wow, I can't believe that.
APPRAISER:
Which was 1368 to 1644.
GUEST:
Chinese, that's amazing.
APPRAISER:
Traditionally, in Asia, these would never have been displayed together.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
Because this fellow...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...is Buddhist.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And this figure is Taoist.
GUEST:
Ah, we have a conflict going.
APPRAISER:
(laughing) We have a conflict.
GUEST:
I'm surprised that they're still in one piece, you know, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Yes, well, they're bronze, which is a pretty hardy material. You can see some traces of the polychroming, and there's some gilding on this one around the foot. And originally, both of them would have been beautifully painted. This figure is part of a pair called the He-He Er Xian. And they would be displayed together, a boy and another little boy, both pleasantly plump, and they were to help the family have a boy.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
Commonly those would have been given as gifts at a wedding ceremony or displayed at something like that to bring good fortune to the new couple. And this one is one of the eight Chinese Immortals, Lü Dongbin. And you can tell there are traces of the pigments throughout, but in some areas, there's a little bit of gilding showing through, which would have covered the majority of the surface of this figure originally. And that was because it would have been displayed in an area that was dark.
GUEST:
Huh.
APPRAISER:
There was no electricity, so everything was covered in gold or silver. It has lots of symbols throughout the entire surface that speak to its importance. The figure is standing on a pedestal that has mountains rising with waves lapping over them, a dragon diving in, which is the imperial animal.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It's very common for bronzes and for porcelain objects to be turned into lamps. They did a wonderful job putting the rod on the backside, so it's...
GUEST:
Oh, good. So it didn't, didn't destroy the value.
APPRAISER:
It's good. I would expect at auction, and they would be offered separately, that this one would achieve a price of between $5,000 and $8,000.
GUEST:
Oh, great.
APPRAISER:
And that the He-He Er Xian would be likely to sell for around $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST:
Oh, wonderful, fantastic. I'm amazed by all this information. I had no idea that... I, I thought they were, uh, Mexican gods or something like that.
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