A RARE PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT PAINTED CLAY NODDING HEAD FIGURES QING DYNASTY, Late 18th/Early 19th Century

depicting a Mandarin official and his consort, each with nodding head and draped in flowing robes, and the underside of one marked B2270. Restored.

Stair & Company, New York & London

Overall good restored condition; beautiful quality; female figure with areas of inpainting; lacking ear rings; repaired breaks to head; losses to eyes; repaired break to neck line of robe and with inpainting; repaired break to neck with inpainting; losses and restoration to decoration of robe with shadows from original decoration, now lost; small chips to back of head; chips to bottom of sleeve of proper left arm; proper left hand appears to be restored; losses and restorations to painted decoration of hemline of under robe; nodding head mechanism replaced; proper left possibly lacking. The male figure with a small chip to paint of nose; very minor losses to hair of mustache and goatee; collar with chips and repairs with inpainting; cape with inpainting; proper right hand and cuff to sleeve with old breaks and with old inpainted restoration; inpainted chips to proper right sleeve; small chips to extremities of proper left sleeve of robe; repaired break to proper right foot through under-robe and with inpainting and chip to paint approximately ¼ in x ¼ in; back of under-robe with a repaired chip; rubbing and wear to buttons.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present figures are sometimes described as being modeled of 'plaster' and are first recorded in a Western collection in 1777, when a group bought at auction by the Danish Asiatisk Kompagni subsequently entered the Danish Royal Collections.  For a discussion of these figures see B. Dam-Mikkelsen and Torben Lundbaek, Ethnographic Objects in the Royal Danish Kunstkammer 1650-1800, pp. 173-179.  Another similar figure is illustrated by Carl Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, p. 316, color pl. 112. Crossman discusses it and other related figures now in the collection of the Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, some of which are dressed in silk robes, and notes on p. 448 that such figures are often referred to as 'Regency,' erroneously implying English manufacture, a belief perhaps stemming from the group of, undoubtedly Chinese, figures which can be found in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton.

A pair of figures of this type, but holding vases, is illustrated by David S. Howard, A Tale of Three Cities, Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong, p. 146, no. 188, who also notes that the largest known collection of such figures is in Sweden at Drottningholm Palace.

A pair of figures very similar to the present example was sold at Christie's New York, January 24, 1997, lot 1; another pair was sold in these rooms, The Collection of Edmond J. and Lily Safra, November 3, 2005, lot 105 ($105,000).