10587 A Dutch Delft Qilin charger in Chinese Transitional style, decorated in blues and manganese centring on an unusual prancing Qilin, (a mythical lion/horse) with a figure holding a vase, in a rocky landscape with scattered trees and bushes.
Dutch, Delft
1680-1700
Diameter: 14 ins (35.5 cms) £2,200
Description
The Qilin is a mythical animal, often portrayed with features of both horse, deer and lion and sometimes with horns or antlers and shown floating above the ground.
An auspicious creature, usually foretelling a moment of good fortune, the qilin is seen as a benevolent being. Careful to do no harm to living things, even to the extent of floating above the grass to avoid stepping on insects or flowers!
The difficulty in Delft was for the painters to interpret a figure which they might only have known through secondary drawings. As a result, the body and attributes are confused but the contmeporary viewer would have understood that this is neither a horse nor a deer or a lion and assumed a mythical origin. The prancing look of the qilin indicates that it is not walking on the ground like a regular beast and this would have reinforced the oriental mythology.
