LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

A pair of similar cranes is illustrated in Colorful, Elegant, and Exquisite: A Special Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from Mr. Robert Chang's Collection, 28 December 2007 - 8 May 2008, Suzhou Museum, pp. 70-71, where they are dated Qianlong period. Like the present lot, the Chang Collection cranes grasp lingzhi-form candlesticks in their beaks, and have similar white bodies and wing and tail feathers, but are missing their covers. Pairs of other comparable large crane-form incense burners can be seen in photographs illustrated by Wang-go Weng and Yang Boda in The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, New York, 1982; one pair grasping lingzhi-form candlesticks in their beaks in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, p. 25, the other pair shown flanking the throne in the Hall of Great Harmony, pp. 44-45, where the authors note that the various cloisonné censers, including the pair of cranes, would have "emitted fragrant smoke that spiralled upward to envelop the Son of Heaven in ethereal haze." Cranes of this size and type were typically placed before the throne and symbolized auspiciousness and longevity.