QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN ROUGE ENAMEL IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

AN EXTREMELY RARE TURQUOISE-GROUND ROUGE-ENAMELLED ‘DRAGON’ TRIPOD CENSER
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN ROUGE ENAMEL IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The censer’s bulbous sides are finely decorated in bright rouge enamel against a turquoise ground with a five-clawed dragon leaping amidst clouds. The handles are decorated with further clouds, as are the three cabriole legs and the recessed neck. The rims are with keyfret bands, reserving a six-character reign mark in a line on the centre of the mouth. The interior is covered in turquoise enamel.
9 ½ in. (24.2 cm.) high

Provenance

Edward T. Chow Collection, sold at Sotheby’s London, 16 December 1980, lot 582

Brought to you by

Priscilla Kong

pkong@christies.cpm +852 29789958

Lot Essay

This censer appears to be unique as no other censer of this shape and decorative scheme has been recorded. A related Qianlong mark-and-period hu-form vase with dragon-form handles decorated in rouge enamel on turquoise ground in National Museum of China, Beijing, is illustrated in Studies of the Collections of the National Museum of China, Shanghai, 2007, pl. 107, p. 163 (fig. 1). A similar censer decorated in rouge enamels with a pair of five-clawed dragons chasing ‘flaming pearls’ but on a white ground, is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics: Qing Dynasty, vol. 4, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 177. A second censer of this approximate size and date but decorated with the Eight Buddhist Treasures in famille rose on a white ground, is included in National Palace Museum, Taipei, Special Exhibition of Incense Burners and Perfumers throughout the Dynasties, Taipei, 1994, no. 120.

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