Lot 916
916
A SUPERB CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER, COVER AND STAND
A SUPERB CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER, COVER AND STAND
A SUPERB CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER, COVER AND STAND
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A SUPERB CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER, COVER AND STAND
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PROPERTY FROM THE SPRINGFIELD MUSEUMS, SOLD TO SUPPORT ART ACQUISITIONS AND COLLECTIONS CARE
A SUPERB CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER, COVER AND STAND

QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details
A SUPERB CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD CENSER, COVER AND STAND
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The body of the censer is enameled with confronted archaistic dragons centered and divided by notched flanges, and is raised on three tall curved legs emerging from stylized gilt animal heads. The domed cover is decorated with stylized bats alternating with lotus blossoms on foliate scrolls, below four reticulated ruyi-shaped gilt panels, and the reticulated gilt-bronze dragon finial. The censer is supported by a separate stand in the form of three conjoined ruyi heads enameled with lotus and centered by a domed floret.
14 ¼ in. (36.2 cm.) high overall
Provenance
George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923), Springfield, Massachusetts, acquired prior to 1910.
Literature
H. Münsterberg, Chinesische Kunstgeschichte, Esslingen, 1910-12, p. 465, fig. 650.
B. Quette (ed.), Cloisonné Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011, p. 263, no. 77.
Exhibited
Springfield, Massachusetts, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Style and Symbol: Chinese Cloisonné from the Permanent Collection, 2000-2001.
New York, Bard Graduate Center, Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, 26 January – 17 April 2011.
Sale room notice
Please note that the Gallery Guide illustration for this lot is incorrect.

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Lot Essay


Censers of this type not only served as an important part of the palace furnishing, they were also used in rituals, banquets and imperial ceremonies. The compressed shape of the present censer is somewhat unusual; the archaistic fangding shape can be more commonly found in cloisonné enamel of the Qianlong period. The style of blade-form legs with upper gilt-bronze figural elements can be found on censers of varying shapes from this period. See a large globular censer with similar blade-form legs but with dragon heads instead of the stylized animal heads seen on the present censer, illustrated by Zhang Xin, ed., in Colorful, Elegant and Exquisite, A Special Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from Mr. Robert Chang’s Collection, Suzhou, 2007, no. 56.

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