A LARGE CLOISONNE ENAMEL CENSER AND COVER

Details

A LARGE CLOISONNE ENAMEL CENSER AND COVER
QING DYNASTY, 1ST HALF OF 18TH CENTURY

The censer of compressed globular shape decorated on the exterior with three stylised shou characters, each surrounded by five bats in flight amidst clouds within a lobed rectangular panel, against a brocade ground detailed with flower heads, flanked on either side with a large gilt-bronze elephant-head handle, supported by three feet similarly cast as elephant-heads, the slightly domed cover enamelled with a further three cartouches, each enclosing a bat suspending from its mouth a stylised shou character supported on a lotus bloom, the gilt-bronze openwork finial cast with large lotus blooms
19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm.) high

Lot Essay

These impressive elephant-head handles and feet followed the tradition of those made during the late Ming period, cf. comparable elephant-head feet supporting a tripod censer illustrated in Metal-Bodied Enamel Ware: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong Commercial Press, 2002, p. 76, no. 73.

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