Lot 1345
  • 1345

A RARE IMPERIAL BRONZE ACUPUNCTURE FIGURE AND KIT QING DYNASTY, YONGZHENG PERIOD |

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
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Description

  • Height of figure 10 1/8  in., 26 cm
cast standing upright, the body pierced with perforations for needles, the head with long earlobes, wrinkled forehead, pointed nose and neatly combed hair lacquered black, the belly pronounced; with a four-volume set of medical texts, a yellow silk box fitted for two carved stone models of hands and wrists with a rattan pulse pillow and an embroidered silk pulse pillow; a set of doctor's instruments encased with an imperial medical degree from the emperor, dated fourth year of the Yongzheng reign, corresponding to 1729; and an anatomy chart framed under glass, wood stand (13)

Catalogue Note

Such bronze figures pierced with apertures were used by acupuncturists and doctors to test their needle manipulation skills. See two similar Yongzheng acupuncture figures with a yellow silk box bearing text of an imperial degree of the emperor, one from the Science Museum, London, and another (dated corresponding to 1729), sold in our London rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 164.