Pair of Seated Deer (Made for the Dutch Market0

This pair of deer are exceptional. The small number of Chinese export figures of deer recorded fall into two main groups, Kangxi examples or later models from the Jiaqing period. But these deer are like the spaniels, hounds, and pugs that date from 1760–1785, the mid-Qianlong era, because of the sophisticated modelling and fine painting of the fur. The seated position also resembles the dogs of this
period, whereas all later deer are standing or recumbent. Only two examples of seated deer from the Kangxi era are known to exist—a pair of biscuit ewers in the form of seated deer and a cloisonné censer modeled as a seated deer.
The models for these animals are most likely the Chinese Spotted Deer or Sika Deer, which have summer coats spotted to varying degrees, although their winter coats are dark and unspotted. Another feature visible in these examples is the darkened strip down the spine.

The deer has been important in Chinese culture since antiquity. Excavations conducted recently near Shanghai have found many deer skulls ceremonially included in burials of the five-thousand-year-old Liangzhu culture, as well as ceramics decorated with images of spotted deer. The animal in this context appears to be linked to immortality. Archeologists have also found two-thousand-year-old wall paintings of spotted deer in Ningxia in northwestern China.

The Chinese word for deer, lu, is a homophone for “fat salary,” so deer also represent material success. In Chinese history and art, they are often associated with Xi Wang Mu, a goddess who dispenses prosperity, or pictured in a deer hunt symbolic of the pursuit of wealth.