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Lot Essay
With the technical advances and virtuosity of porcelain production during the Qianlong period, potters from the official kilns were able to experiment with different styles and techniques to satisfy the emperor's penchant for the curious and archaic. Although the idea of porcelain imitating other materials was not pioneered by the potters during the Qianlong reign, the technique was nevertheless very popular.
The present lot belongs to a small group of porcelain wares decorated in imitation of cloisonné and champlevé enamel. On this censer and others like it, even the effect of the gilt-wire outlines has been simulated. The aspirations of classical Ming metal wares are evident on the current censer- as its form is modelled after bronze censers of Xuande period; such form in gilt-splashed bronze was highly favoured by literati of Ming and Qing dynasties. Furthermore, the three-dimensional decoration on the body also echoes to Ming dynasty, particularly the lotus petals enclosing lotus sprays, which resembles cloisonné enamel boxes and covers of Jingtai period, see the one at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no.: zongfa000714N (fig. 2). The imperial potters ingeniously combined different glazes and fused elements from past to present to create something both classic and innovative.
No other censer of this design appears to have been published, and none that are as exquisitely made with the combination of the intricate enamelled decoration and the simulated gilt-splashed bronze. The most closely related piece is an enamelled gilt-bronze censer decorated with archaistic dragons, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no.: guci015030N (fig. 3). Another similar example is an imitation gilt-bronze archaistic tripod censer with similar gilt-splashed ground, bearing the same impressed Qianlong mark, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2019, lot 2906 (fig. 4).
The present lot belongs to a small group of porcelain wares decorated in imitation of cloisonné and champlevé enamel. On this censer and others like it, even the effect of the gilt-wire outlines has been simulated. The aspirations of classical Ming metal wares are evident on the current censer- as its form is modelled after bronze censers of Xuande period; such form in gilt-splashed bronze was highly favoured by literati of Ming and Qing dynasties. Furthermore, the three-dimensional decoration on the body also echoes to Ming dynasty, particularly the lotus petals enclosing lotus sprays, which resembles cloisonné enamel boxes and covers of Jingtai period, see the one at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no.: zongfa000714N (fig. 2). The imperial potters ingeniously combined different glazes and fused elements from past to present to create something both classic and innovative.
No other censer of this design appears to have been published, and none that are as exquisitely made with the combination of the intricate enamelled decoration and the simulated gilt-splashed bronze. The most closely related piece is an enamelled gilt-bronze censer decorated with archaistic dragons, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no.: guci015030N (fig. 3). Another similar example is an imitation gilt-bronze archaistic tripod censer with similar gilt-splashed ground, bearing the same impressed Qianlong mark, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2019, lot 2906 (fig. 4).