拍品专文
In British India, tripod tables - and small pillar tables in general - were known as teapoys, deriving from the Hindi tin pai, literally three leg or tripod. The teapoy's form was taken directly from the English candlestand, and although used principally for candles and their shades, contemporary illustrations indicate that they were sometimes also used for hookah stands.
A related teapoy - though at 73 cm high significantly larger - formed part of the group of ivory furniture assembled in India by Francis, 1st Marquess of Hastings, Governor-General from 1813-23. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, it is en suite with two smaller teapoys, all three 'Ivory and Gold Pillar and Claw'd Stands' being recorded in an inventory of Montreal Park in 1830. They are discussed by A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, no.83.
Queen Charlotte's sale at Christie's on 24 May 1819 also included 'A pair of small circular tables with spirally fluted stems and claw feet of massive ivory, richly gilt': these appear to match the teapoy formerly in the collection of the Maharajah of Dharbanga, which is now in the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta. Further pairs of Murshidabad teapoys include those in the Durbar Room at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, as well as a pair sold from the collection of Lord Astor of Hever, Sotheby's London, 6 May 1983, lot 340.
A related teapoy - though at 73 cm high significantly larger - formed part of the group of ivory furniture assembled in India by Francis, 1st Marquess of Hastings, Governor-General from 1813-23. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, it is en suite with two smaller teapoys, all three 'Ivory and Gold Pillar and Claw'd Stands' being recorded in an inventory of Montreal Park in 1830. They are discussed by A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, no.83.
Queen Charlotte's sale at Christie's on 24 May 1819 also included 'A pair of small circular tables with spirally fluted stems and claw feet of massive ivory, richly gilt': these appear to match the teapoy formerly in the collection of the Maharajah of Dharbanga, which is now in the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta. Further pairs of Murshidabad teapoys include those in the Durbar Room at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, as well as a pair sold from the collection of Lord Astor of Hever, Sotheby's London, 6 May 1983, lot 340.