A VERY LARGE AND RARE PART-GILT BUDDHIST LION AND LOTOS CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL BASIN, China, 17th/18th ct., the interior brightly decorated in multi-coloured enamels against a deep turquoise ground with a yellow, a dark blue and a green Buddhistic lion, each finely detailed with a fierce expression, flaming haunches, spiralling spine and a bushy tail, frolicking around a beribboned brocade ball picked out with a 'cash'-diaper ground, all within a circle of ruyi below multi-coloured lotus scrolls with attendant buds blanketing the cavetto, stand with gilt-elephant feet. This basin is notable for its playful and bold design; a basin also decorated with buddhist lions is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Enamels, vol. 2, Beijing 2011, pl. 94. A basin of this type and decoration, but the everted rim enamelled with butterflies hovering amongst flower plants emerging from rockwork, from the collection of Lord Greville, was sold three times at Sotheby's London, most recently 14th December 1976, lot 276; two further examples were also sold at Sotheby's London, 1st July 1969, lot 30, and the other, 13th November 1972, lot 129; and a fourth example was sold at Christie's London, 15th July 1981, lot 60. The subject of Buddhist lions playing with beribboned balls dates back to blue and white porcelain of the early Ming dynasty, such as a jar attributed to the Yongle period (1403-1424) illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1643. The vibrant design presents many auspicious associations symbolising physical and spiritual power and conveying wishes for high rank. Stylistically, the Buddhist lion decoration on this basin is similar to that seen on a bowl dated to the mid-16th century, which has a six-character Jiajing (1522-67) mark incised on the base, illustrated by Bèatrice Quette (ed.), in Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, 2011, p. 302, no. 151. Similar decoration can also be seen on a cloisonné enamel jar in the Qing Court Collection illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 43 - Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, p. 41, no. 39, which has a Jingtai four-character mark, and is dated to middle Ming dynasty - Property from an old Bavarian private collection, bought from Bernheimer Munich in the 1950's, since the 1980's in the family of the present owner - Very minor wear, very minor losses to enamels