QIANLONG CAST FOUR-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The archaistic mask motif and decoration on the present censer is similar to a bronze yan dated to Zhou dynasty, illustrated by line drawing in Xiqing Gujian, juan 30 (fig. 1). An almost identical example is in the Taipei National Palace Museum collection, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, p.141, no 58 (fig. 2). Another example that is smaller in size with the gilded rims and legs left undecorated, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 2- Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, p. 295, no. 235.