Lot 2310. An opaque turquoise glass tripod censer, Qianlong incised four-character mark within double squares and of the period (1736-1795); 4 3/8 in. (11.2 cm.) across. Estimate HKD 600,000 - HKD 800,000. Price realised HKD 750,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The compressed body is raised on three truncated conical supports, with a pair of handles rising in curved loops from the rim. The glass is of a rich turquoise tone with purplish and greenish swirls and areas of darkening.

Note: The shape of this censer is based on bronze prototypes of the early Ming dynasty. Other glass censers of this shape, but of different colour, have also been published. One in the collection of the Palace Museum, of opaque pink colour, still fitted with its metal liner, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji - Gongyi meishu bian, 10, Beijing, 1987, pl. 254. Two others, of opaque yellow and opaque bluish-turquoise colour, in the Andrew K.F. Lee Collection, are illustrated in Elegance and Radiance, The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 182-85, nos. 54 and 55, respectively.

Compare also to an opaque turquoise glass censer of this shape, formerly in the Shorenstein Collection and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2919. 

Christie's. Imperial Sale, Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 29 May 2013, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall