18TH CENTURY

Jade incense holders of this type are more often of cylindrical shape, however, a smaller pair of square section in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo qiqi quanji, vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 84, where it is mentioned that they were made for palace use in the early Qianlong period. Another example of square section, of slightly smaller size (H. 22 cm.), also dated Qianlong, in the Musée national du château de Fontainebleau, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Jade: Des Empereurs à l’Art Déco, 2016, p. 229, no. 181.