A PAIR OF MONUMENTAL GILT AND RED LACQUERED WOOD FIGURES OF BUDDHIST LIONS, LATE QING DYNASTY
China, 19th century. Both modeled standing in mirror image, the female with a pup clambering at her feet and the male with a pierced brocade ball, and each with a ball in their mouths. The fierce lions with deeply incised curly manes, mouths agape revealing sharp teeth, and a collar around the neck suspending bells. The rectangular stepped base carved with openworked dragons and petal lappets. (2)


Provenance
: From the private collection of Lu Xiaguang, and thence by descent. Lu Xiaguang (1906-1994) was a Chinese painter who became a protegé of Xu Beihong in 1929 and learned oil painting in the Western style. On Xu’s advice, he studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Royal Academy of Belgium, after which he returned to Paris. He copied famous paintings from various schools in the Louvre, studied with great concentration, and collected paintings, art objects, and antiques. In 1984, he established the Lu Xiaguang Studio in Paris, which contributed to the cultural exchange between China and France. In 1993, Lu Xiaguang donated his life's work and his art collection of cultural relics, calligraphy, and painting to the People’s Republic of China. His works and collection are permanently displayed in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in Hangzhou.

Condition
: Good condition with old wear, expected age cracks, flaking and abrasions to lacquer, nicks, scratches, chips and losses. Minor old repairs. Fine, naturally grown patina overall - displaying exceptionally well.

Dimensions: Height 145 cm and 148.5 cm


Buddhist lion statues are an architectural decoration
in front of an entrance to a temple, palace, business, tombs, and home. They are always found as a pair; one male with a ball under his right paw and one female with a cub under her left paw. These guardian lions are thought to protect the building from harmful spiritual influences and harmful people that might be a threat. The male lion guards the exterior of the building, while the female is in charge of the building’s interior. The cub represents the continuity of protection.


Lions are not native to China,
and although live animals were brought to the Chinese court by foreign embassies since at least the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), they were always exotic rarities. In India, the lion is intimately associated with Buddhism, considered a symbol of strength and protector of the Dharma, the Buddhist law, and with the growing popularity of the Buddhist religion during the Tang dynasty (618-907), pairs of lion figures were increasingly placed in front of Buddhist temple gates as guardian animals.


The Yongle Emperor’s
international diplomacy efforts brought China once more in direct contact with foreign lands, their animals, plants and other exotica in the early Ming dynasty. The court welcomed foreign embassies and the Muslim seafarer and diplomat, Court Eunuch Zheng He (c. 1371-1435), embarked on seven extensive maritime expeditions to ports throughout Asia and as far as Africa, which continued into the Xuande reign. At this time, lions were apparently so little known in China that Ma Huan (c. 1380-1460), Zheng He’s Muslim interpreter who accompanied him on three voyages, left us a contemporary account describing them in detail: “The lion has a body which resembles a tiger’s in shape; it is a dark-yellow color, without stripes; it has a large head and a broad mouth; the tail tapers to a point, which has a lot of hair, black and long, like a tassel; the noise of its roar is like thunder. All the beasts, when they see it, fall down and dare not rise; it is indeed the king among the beasts” (J.V.G. Mills, ed., Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan. The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores [1433], Hakluyt Society, London, 1970, reprint Bangkok 1997, p. 158-159).


Although lions
were among the exotic animals that had been brought to China already by some Timurid embassies, and on occasion were received as tribute by Zheng He’s delegation, they were rare and desirable enough to be specially purchased on these voyages and be brought back to the court: during the sixth expedition in the Yongle reign, for example, when in 1421 the ships stopped in Aden (ibid., p. 50 and 159), and during the seventh voyage in the Xuande reign, when in 1431 a division of the fleet went to Mecca, where it had, among other things, brought porcelain items as gifts (ibid., p. 51 and 178).




清末一對紅漆描金太獅

中國，十九世紀。母獅左前爪抬高摟著著一隻小幼崽，雄性右脚罩著一個花球。獅子火焰狀捲毛，嘴裏還叼著一個小球，雕刻手法細緻，神態生動可愛。(2)


來源：
呂霞光私人收藏，傳承至今。呂霞光（1906-1994），中國畫家，1929年師從徐悲鴻，學習西洋油畫。在徐的建議下，他先後在巴黎美術學院和比利時皇家學院學習繪畫，之後返回巴黎。他在盧浮宮臨摹各流派的名畫，潛心研究，收藏繪畫、藝術品、古董。1984年在巴黎成立呂霞光工作室，為中法文化交流做出了貢獻。1993年，呂霞光將其畢生心血收藏的文物、字畫捐贈給中國。他的作品和收藏陳列於杭州浙江省博物館。

品相：
狀況良好，有磨損、老化裂紋、剝落和漆面磨損、刻痕、劃痕和缺口，有小修。整體包漿細膩。

尺寸：分別高145 厘米與148.5厘米