KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

Magnificent censers like the current brazier were decorative art objects of the highest quality, but they were also made to be used. The most convenient form of heating in the Imperial palaces was braziers. Beijing gets very cold in winter and the limited under-floor heating, few stoves and heated kang were not sufficient to keep the inhabitants of the Forbidden City even moderately warm. The halls of the Inner Court therefore had additional heating in the form of charcoal-burning braziers. These braziers ranged from magnificent multi-tiered cloisonné enamel vessels like the current example, to simple cages the size of a water melon.

A pair of large octagonal cloisonné enamel braziers with four tiers can be seen standing in situ on either side of the emperor's steps up to the throne in the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City, illustrated in The Forbidden City: Collection of Photographs by Hu Chui, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 1998, pl. 32. A smaller cloisonné and gilt brazier which still stands by the nuptial bed in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility in the Beijing Palace is illustrated in La Cité Interdite: Vie Publique et Privée des Empereurs de Chine (1644 - 1911), 1996, p. 12, fig. 10.

A similar cloisonné enamel censer, also with rounded sides, pierced gilt panels and the same number of tiers, is in the Beijing Palace Museum and illustrated in Enamels 2: Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2011, pl. 74.