A superb cloisonné enamel tripod censer, cover and stand, Qianlong period (1736-1795)
Lot 1010. A superb cloisonné enamel tripod censer, cover and stand, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 14 ¼ in. (36.2 cm.) high overall. Estimate: USD 100,000 - USD 150,000. Price realised USD 600,000. © Christie's 2021
The body of the censer is enameled with confronted archaistic dragons centered and divided by notched flanges, and is raised on three tall curved legs emerging from stylized gilt animal heads. The domed cover is decorated with stylized bats alternating with lotus blossoms on foliate scrolls, below four reticulated ruyi-shaped gilt panels, and the reticulated gilt-bronze dragon finial. The censer is supported by a separate stand in the form of three conjoined ruyi heads enameled with lotus and centered by a domed floret.
Property from the Springfield Museums to Be Auctioned to Support Museums Collections.
Provenance: George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923), Springfield, Massachusetts, acquired prior to 1910.
Literature: H. Münsterberg, Chinesische Kunstgeschichte, Esslingen, 1910-12, p. 465, fig. 650.
B. Quette (ed.), Cloisonné Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011, p. 263, no. 77.
Exhibited: Springfield, Massachusetts, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Style and Symbol: Chinese Cloisonné from the Permanent Collection, 2000-2001.
New York, Bard Graduate Center, Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, 26 January – 17 April 2011.
Note: Censers of this type not only served as an important part of the palace furnishing, they were also used in rituals, banquets and imperial ceremonies. The compressed shape of the present censer is somewhat unusual; the archaistic fangding shape can be more commonly found in cloisonné enamel of the Qianlong period. The style of blade-form legs with upper gilt-bronze figural elements can be found on censers of varying shapes from this period. See a large globular censer with similar blade-form legs but with dragon heads instead of the stylized animal heads seen on the present censer, illustrated by Zhang Xin, ed., in Colorful, Elegant and Exquisite, A Special Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from Mr. Robert Chang’s Collection, Suzhou, 2007, no. 56.
Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 23-24 september 2021