A FINE AND VERY RARE SMALL DUCK-FORM CLOISONNE ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE CENSER AND COVER

Details

A FINE AND VERY RARE SMALL DUCK-FORM CLOISONNE ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE CENSER AND COVER
CAST QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The censer is superbly cast in the form of a duck with its head turning back, the ruffled wing feathers, its head and webbed feet in finely incised gilt-bronze, the rest of its body enamelled with colourful floral scrolls against a bright turquoise ground, the mark cast in relief on the underside of the circular cover fitting over the aperture on the back of the duck
4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) high

Lot Essay

This censer is unique. Other bird-form censers are rarely as elaborately decorated as the present lot and tend to have the entire body in cloisonné enamel with the feathers and plumes detailed. Cf. the 18th-century censers, one in the Clague Collection, illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. 61; a pair of doves from the Pierre Uldry Collection, illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, pl. 324; and a pair of quails, illustrated ibid., pl. 328.

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