The form of the present censer and the design are infuenced by to an earlier Ming style. The most comparable example is the Yongle/Xuande dated censer included in the present sale, lot 576, where other related censers of the Ming period are also cited, together with the origins of the Indian lotus bloom motif.

The feet in the form of gilt-bronze elephant-heads also originated in the Ming dynasty. A smaller Jingtai-marked censer with similar feet of more subdued design is in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, and is illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, 1999, no. 18, while a larger one with the heads embellished in cloisonne enamel is illustrated ibid., no. 15. A very large censer also supported on large cloisonne elephant heads is shown in a photograph of the group of cloisonne furnishings in the Palace of Fontainebleau, which were believed to have been from the Yuanmingyuan before its destruction, illustrated by Brinker and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne, The Pierre Uldry Collection, 1989, fig. 6.

No other censers, however, appear to have the theme of elephants continue onto the cover and the present lot is unique as such.

(US$100,000-155,000)