A RARE CHINESE IMPERIAL BRONZE ACUPUNCTURE FIGURE

YONGZHENG 1723-35

Depicted standing tall, with a rounded stomach and slender limbs, the well-defined face cast with a pointed nose and wrinkles to the forehead, with black lacquer to the long straight hair, pierced with many apertures across the entire body, together with a silk-mounted stand, 25.9cm, 1.1kg. (2)

Provenance: acquired from Gérard Levy, 7eme Biennale des Antiquaires, Paris, in 1974.

Figures of this type were used by doctors and acupuncturists to practise their needle skills.

Cf. Sotheby's London, 16th May 2012, lot 164 for a similar Yongzheng acupuncture figure dated to 1729; see also the collection of the Science Museum, London, no.A156197 for another comparable example.