17TH/18TH CENTURY

The present censer, modeled after a large ingot, would have provided an auspicious wish for wealth for the owner. The four figures supporting the censer on their backs are identified as foreigners by both their clothes and facial features. During the 17th and 18th centuries in China there was a fascination with all things foreign. This interest in foreigners, their clothes, customs and belongings, is reflected in a number of the arts of the period. Scrolls depicting tribute bearers from foreign lands were commissioned by the court, on which male and female figures from various countries were shown in their different costumes. On one such hand scroll in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, the many figures are described as being from the West and the attributes of each couple are discussed in both Chinese and Manchu. See Splendors of a Flourishing Age, Macau, 1999, no. 42.