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Lot Essay
It is very rare for large cloisonné enamel censers of this type to have survived as a pair. Produced not only as functional incense burners, they would also have lent a sense of grandeur to palace and hall interiors.
The exterior of each censer is decorated with the bailu ‘Hundred Deer’ motif, a subject popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties and especially favoured by the Qianlong Emperor. The imagery evokes the imperial hunts he revived in accordance with Manchu tradition, while its auspicious associations with rank, prosperity and longevity made it particularly appropriate for the imperial court. Deer and cranes are furthermore associated with Shoulao, the God of Longevity, and together convey wishes for a long life. The pine trees and lingzhi depicted on the present censers similarly reinforce this auspicious symbolism.
Comparable cloisonné enamel censers raised on crane-form supports are rare. A related pair, dated to the Qianlong period, is preserved in the British Museum, London (registration nos. 1931,0414.1–2). Another related example, dated to the second half of the eighteenth century, is in the Pierre Uldry Collection and illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no. 323. A related cloisonné enamel censer decorated with a lotus-pond scene, with gilt-bronze dragon-form handles and supported on crane-form feet, was sold at Christie’s, Art of Asia: Including the Palmer Family Collection Online, 12 November 2025, lot 118.
The exterior of each censer is decorated with the bailu ‘Hundred Deer’ motif, a subject popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties and especially favoured by the Qianlong Emperor. The imagery evokes the imperial hunts he revived in accordance with Manchu tradition, while its auspicious associations with rank, prosperity and longevity made it particularly appropriate for the imperial court. Deer and cranes are furthermore associated with Shoulao, the God of Longevity, and together convey wishes for a long life. The pine trees and lingzhi depicted on the present censers similarly reinforce this auspicious symbolism.
Comparable cloisonné enamel censers raised on crane-form supports are rare. A related pair, dated to the Qianlong period, is preserved in the British Museum, London (registration nos. 1931,0414.1–2). Another related example, dated to the second half of the eighteenth century, is in the Pierre Uldry Collection and illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no. 323. A related cloisonné enamel censer decorated with a lotus-pond scene, with gilt-bronze dragon-form handles and supported on crane-form feet, was sold at Christie’s, Art of Asia: Including the Palmer Family Collection Online, 12 November 2025, lot 118.