QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A VERY RARE SMALL DUCK-FORM CLOISONNE ENAMEL CENSER AND A COVER
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The censer is 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. Accompanied by a later circular cover fitting over the aperture on the back of the duck.
4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) high, box, stand

Provenance

Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 April 2001, lot 574

Sale room notice

Please note that the condition report of this lot should read:
- The left leg had been off and restuck
- There are a few very small areas of infills

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Lot Essay

This censer appears to be 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. Compare to the 18th-century censers, one in the Clague Collection, illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné, Phoenix Art Museum, 1980, no. 61; a pair of 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., no. 328.

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