A PAIR OF PARCEL-GILT BRONZE ELEPHANT-FORM VESSELS QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

cast as a coordinated pair of vessels formed as elephants standing foursquare, one with lowered head turned to the left, the other turned to the right, caparisonned with draperies detailed with lotus flowers, the body adorned with layered chains of jewelry and tassels and a headdress all inset with hardstone embellishments, surmounted by a zun-shaped vessel rising to a wide flaring mouth wreathed in scrolling lotuses cast in relief, the rounded midsection similarly decked in bejeweled chains, the shoulders flanked by a pair of animal head handles, the patina of a variegated golden-brown colour

The Oriental Art Gallery Ltd., London, 1994.
Sotheby's New York, 23rd September 1995, lot 330.

Philip K. Hu, Later Chinese Bronzes - The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert Kresko Collections, St. Louis, 2008, cat. no. 30.