A RARE CHINESE CARVED AMBER QILIN PLAQUE

16TH/17TH CENTURY

Finely carved in relief with two fighting qilins forming an oval plaque, each with a fierce expression, their horns, manes and backbones delicately detailed with hair, the amber with varying honey-coloured tones, 7.5cm.

Provenance: from a British private collection, purchased from Spink & Son Ltd., 16th September 1992. A copy of the invoice is available.

Cf. D A Grimaldi, Amber: Window to the Past, p.196, for another mythical beast amber plaque from the Drummond Collection in the American Museum of Natural History.