QUATRE PANNEAUX EN FER, TIEHUA

Wall panels of malleable iron (tiehua) are often attributed to the 17th or 18th century. A set of four large panels were included in the exhibition The Chinese Scholar's Studio, the Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1987, cat. no. 68. Other panels decorated with flowering and fruiting branches are in the British Museum, London, visble on their website, nos 1928,0717.17 and 1928,0717.15. A set of four showing the 'Four Gentlemanly Virtues' (plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum) on paper ground are in the National Museum of Scotland, published on their website, no. A.1902.463 and have been exhibited in their two exhibitions Looking East: The Lady Ivy Wu Gallery (29 July 2011 - 08 June 2014) and Ming: The Golden Empire (27 Jun 2014 - 19 Oct 2014). A set of four panels of larger size with fruiting branches has been sold at Sotheby's London, 15 May 2019, lot 165 and another set of four depicting flowers was sold at Christie's Paris, 12 December 2019, lot 37.