19TH CENTURY

A pair of similar cranes, of somewhat smaller size (72 in.), is illustrated in Colorful, Elegant, and Exquisite: A Special Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from Mr. Robert Chang's Collection, 28 December 2007 - 8 May 2008, Suzhou Museum, pp. 70-71, where they are dated Qianlong period. They, also, grasp lingzhi-form candlesticks in their beaks, and have similar white bodies and wing and tail feathers, but the covers are missing. Pairs of similar, large, crane-form incense burners can be seen in photographs illustrated by Wang-go Weng and Yang Boda in The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, New York, 1982; one pair grasping lingzhi-form candlesticks in their beaks in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, p. 25, the other pair shown flanking the throne in the Hall of Great Harmony, pp. 44-45, where the authors note that the various cloisonné censers, including the pair of cranes, "emitted fragrant smoke that spiraled upward to envelop the Son of Heaven in ethereal haze."
An almost identical pair of cloisonné enamel crane-form censers of slightly smaller size was sold at Christie's New York, 18 September, 2014, lot 645.