Rare Chinese Optical Transformation Toy, probably mid-19th Centu

Comprising a pair of male and female watercolor portraits and twelve finely hand-painted mica overlays, six for each sex, with variations in costume, occupation (including archer and warrior) and hairstyle, in silk-covered cases originally joined together by a ribbon, overlays approx. 2 5/8 x 3 7/8 in. (6,7 x 10 cm). Good overall condition, case missing ribbon, bright colors. Note: "Changements Inattendus", metamorphic or protean transformation sets are examples of early optical toys which demanded an act of interpretation, a way of looking that searched for hidden images in every-day items. "Understanding such ways of seeing – the modes of human perception – opened the way to the 'philosophical toy', devices that played with the vagaries of visual capacity and conjured images" (quoted from Marina Warner in "Eyes, Lies and Illusions"). – There are several varieties of metamorphic toys: male and female figures, full and half-length portraits on paper and bone, overlays on paper and mica. The earliest recorded transformation toys in mica, a sheet silicate mineral, date from the mid-17th century. The Royal Collection of Great Britain possesses an early mica transformation set believed to represent Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. In March 2011 Auction Team Breker sold a similar set depicting Queen Christina of Sweden. Due to the fragile nature of mica, few European transformation sets – and even fewer from Asia – are known to have survived. A rare and fascinating optical toy. – Literature: https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/422348/set-of-mica-overlays-and-miniature-of-henrietta-maria-1609-1669; Auction Team Breker, 26 March 2011, Lot 407; Laurent Mannoni et al., "Eyes, Lies and Illusions", exhibition catalog (2004), pp. 113, 218–19.

布雷克拍品等级是为了方便竞买人判断拍卖品的成色而设置的。布雷克等级用1到6级来标注外观和功能的成色，(从非常好到非常差)。 在目录图册里用括号里的2个数字来表示，前一个数字表示外观成色的级别，后一个数字表示功能成色的级别。如(3/2)表示外观成色是3(满意的)，功能成色2(好)。 成色 定义参照下列标准： 1 - 非常好 (未使用过，没有使用痕迹) 2 - 好 (新，极少的使用痕迹) 3 - 满意的 (普通的使用痕迹) 4 - 及格的 (明显的使用痕迹，某个非主要部件是后配的) 5 - 有缺陷的 (极明显的使用痕迹, 某个主要部件是后配的，功能上有缺陷，需要修理) 6 - 非常差 (严重破损, 缺少重要部件)