A SMALL WHITE JADE CENSER AND COVER

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A SMALL WHITE JADE CENSER AND COVER
19TH CENTURY

The censer is well carved with a frieze of taotie masks in shallow relief against a leiwen ground, the waisted neck decorated with two lion masks in higher relief, divided by a pair of mythical animal-head handles, all raised on a ring foot with a fret-pattern band, the domed cover similarly decorated with taotie masks and surmounted by a stepped everted circular finial, the base bearing an incised Qianlong nianzhi apocryphal mark, the milky-white stone with areas of russet inclusions (section of foot ring polished)
7 in. (17.8 cm.) across the handles, stand, box

Lot Essay

A similar but larger Qianlong censer was sold in these Rooms, 300 Years of Jade, 30 October 2000, lot 681.

The present lot is carved to liken the bronze gui, a lidded example of which, dated to the late 9th century, in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, is illustrated by W. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 1977, pl. 48A.

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