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Lot Essay
Elaborate pagoda-shaped covers on censers were very popular at the Qing court, and can be seen on a number of columnar censers, which have been preserved in the Forbidden City and at the Shenyang Palace. Two cylindrical cloisonné censers with hexagonal pagoda-shaped covers from the Forbidden City are illustrated in Splendors of China's Forbidden City - The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, London, 2004, p. 48, no. 34, where the authors note that they would have been placed near the throne and sandalwood incense would have been burned inside them. Censers of similar cylindrical type, but with pierced jade interiors can be seen in a photograph of the imperial throne in the main room of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Secret World of the Forbidden City - Splendors from China's Imperial Palace, The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, 2000, p. 38.
Another pair of hexagonal incense burners with pagoda-shaped covers, which was placed on side tables in the Nine Room Pavilion (The Pavilion of Continuing Thought), residence of the consorts who accompanied the Emperor Qianlong when he visited the Shenyang Palace, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1989, p.67. A similar pair from The C. Roxton and Audrey B. Love Collection was sold at Christie’s New York, 20 October 2004, lot 451. Also compare to a very similar octagonal pagoda-shaped cover in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 4- Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pp. 107, no. 59; this cover has pierced doorways on each side instead of alternate sides like the present lot.
The shape of the current cloisonné censer is also seen in large bronze censers, which still stand today in the Forbidden City. One such large censer stands in front of the First Gate of Heaven, and is illustrated in Palaces of the Forbidden City, London, 1984, p.125, pl.122-3. Smaller versions of the same form, but without the s-form handles, were also used in the Forbidden City as lanterns, and lanterns of this shape are still to be seen outside the Lijingxuan, which is one of the pavilions in the Palace of Concentrated Beauty, where the Emperor Tongzhi was born, illustrated by M. Holdsworth and C. Courtauld in The Forbidden City - The Great Within, Hong Kong, 1995, pp.66-67. Like that of the large bronze censer in front of the First Gate of Heaven, the tripod base of the current censer is decorated with a wealth of the kind of archaistic motifs that were so popular during the Qing dynasty. The most prominent of the motifs on the cloisonné censer are taotie masks and bi disks, while on the legs are kui dragons with bodies twisted into geometric forms, which match the dragons that appear on the solid walls of the pagoda cover. This vessel, therefore, takes its shape and decoration from a number of different sources, to create a spectacular result.
Another pair of hexagonal incense burners with pagoda-shaped covers, which was placed on side tables in the Nine Room Pavilion (The Pavilion of Continuing Thought), residence of the consorts who accompanied the Emperor Qianlong when he visited the Shenyang Palace, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1989, p.67. A similar pair from The C. Roxton and Audrey B. Love Collection was sold at Christie’s New York, 20 October 2004, lot 451. Also compare to a very similar octagonal pagoda-shaped cover in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 4- Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pp. 107, no. 59; this cover has pierced doorways on each side instead of alternate sides like the present lot.
The shape of the current cloisonné censer is also seen in large bronze censers, which still stand today in the Forbidden City. One such large censer stands in front of the First Gate of Heaven, and is illustrated in Palaces of the Forbidden City, London, 1984, p.125, pl.122-3. Smaller versions of the same form, but without the s-form handles, were also used in the Forbidden City as lanterns, and lanterns of this shape are still to be seen outside the Lijingxuan, which is one of the pavilions in the Palace of Concentrated Beauty, where the Emperor Tongzhi was born, illustrated by M. Holdsworth and C. Courtauld in The Forbidden City - The Great Within, Hong Kong, 1995, pp.66-67. Like that of the large bronze censer in front of the First Gate of Heaven, the tripod base of the current censer is decorated with a wealth of the kind of archaistic motifs that were so popular during the Qing dynasty. The most prominent of the motifs on the cloisonné censer are taotie masks and bi disks, while on the legs are kui dragons with bodies twisted into geometric forms, which match the dragons that appear on the solid walls of the pagoda cover. This vessel, therefore, takes its shape and decoration from a number of different sources, to create a spectacular result.