QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK INSCRIBED IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK INSCRIBED IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The censer has a compressed bulbous body decorated with lotus scroll below a blue ruyi border which is repeated above each of the three cabriole supports that are decorated with foliate sprays. Sprays of florets are on the neck and pair of bail handles, and further flower sprays surround a gilt square in the center of the underside which is inscribed with the four-character mark in a line above a fifth character, jun.
4½ in. (11.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in Paris, 1993.

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Lot Essay

The extra character below the reign mark can also be found on some imperial glass wares and is believed by some scholars to be a serial number from the Chinese classic Qianziwen, 'The One Thousand Word Essay', with a strong connection to the Imperial Workshops (refer to Elegance and Radiance, Grandeur in Qing Glass, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, p. 312). According to Bèatrice Quette in Cloisonné: Chinese Enamel from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011, p. 75, the additional character on the cloisonné incense sets may be for numbering and perhaps for "differentiating the original location in the different palaces." She also notes that the workmanship on these pieces is particularly fine.

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