Lot 3302. A Yellow Glass Tripod Incense Burner, Qianlong Mark and Period (1736-1795). D 3.6cm H 2cm. Estimate 420,000 - 600,000 (USD 53,846 - 76,923). Sold Price: HKD 1,044,000 (USD 133,846). Copyright 2021 © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

Beautifully potted with a rotund body, two handles pointed upwards and is supported by a tripod base. The burner is of a vivid yellow tone with no additional adornments. At the base is a four-character Qianlong reign mark written in standard script enclosed in a set of two squares. Based on the quality of material used and the finesse of the burner, this could be easily recognized as an imperial ware.

Provenance: 1. Collection of Mme. Lucien Thenlot, Paris, France, 1992
2. Duchange family collection, Paris, France.

Note: The present lot was initially part of a set of three items alongside a vase and a box, and was used as an incense burner in the court. Yellow glass wares were strictly reserved for the royal household and there are only very few existing. An incense burner with a pair of peculiarly shaped handles are particularly outstanding. See a similar example sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28 April 1998, lot 907; a realgar-imitation glass one sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 October 2017, lot 3009.

A similar yellow glass incense burner in the Andrew K.F. Lee collection, included in the exhibition Elegance and Radiance. Grandeur of Qing Glass, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2000, cat. no.54. Similar glass vessels from the Qing Court collection, illustrated by Zhang Rong, Lustre of Autumn Water. Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005.

Poly Auctions. Imperial Treasures: A Selection of Qing Imperial Porcelains, Hong Kong, 21 April 2021