An exceptionally rare and highly important pair of late 18th century Chinese export polychrome decorated seated ‘nodding head’ figures of unprecedented large size of a mandarin and his consort, retaining almost all the original paint decoration.
The bearded mandarin with a very naturalistic, open facial expression, with a ponytail of real hair and wearing a light blue robe with red lining, tied at the waist, and with wide sleeves decorated with red and white peonies and green leaves, holding a red handkerchief in his left hand, his right hand resting on his knee, and seated on a green painted rockwork seat; on the original green painted wood plinth.
The consort with a somewhat more sombre expression, with tied back hair modelled in plaster and held by two large metal hair pins, wearing a dark green coat with yellow collar fastened by a single button, again decorated in bright red and white peonies, and showing a light green undercoat and yellow skirt with similar peonies and blue trim, holding a red handkerchief in her right hand, with her left hand on her knee, and resting on opposing green painted rockwork; on the original green painted wood plinth.
Note: These figures have survived in exemplary original condition. The scale of the figures is extremely large, and very few other seated figures of this size are known to exist.