Page 246 - Christie's Hong Kong November 29, 2022 Fine Chinese Works of Art

3057 Continued

Elaborate pagoda-shaped covers on censers were very popular at the by M. Holdsworth and C. Courtauld in The Forbidden City - The Great
Qing court, and can be seen on a number of columnar censers, which Within, Hong Kong, 1995, pp.66-67. Like that of the large bronze censer
have been preserved in the Forbidden City and at the Shenyang Palace. in front of the First Gate of Heaven, the tripod base of the current censer
Two cylindrical cloisonné censers with hexagonal pagoda-shaped covers is decorated with a wealth of the kind of archaistic motifs that were so
from the Forbidden City are illustrated in Splendors of China's Forbidden popular during the Qing dynasty. The most prominent of the motifs on
City - The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, London, 2004, p. 48, no. the cloisonné censer are taotie masks and bi disks, while on the legs are
34, where the authors note that they would have been placed near the kui dragons with bodies twisted into geometric forms, which match the
throne and sandalwood incense would have been burned inside them. dragons that appear on the solid walls of the pagoda cover. This vessel,
Censers of similar cylindrical type, but with pierced jade interiors can be therefore, takes its shape and decoration from a number of different
seen in a photograph of the imperial throne in the main room of the Hall sources, to create a spectacular result.
of Mental Cultivation, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Secret World
of the Forbidden City - Splendors from China's Imperial Palace, The Bowers
Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, 2000, p. 38.
Another pair of hexagonal incense burners with pagoda-shaped covers, 爐身兩側飾S形耳，底飾三獸吞足，圓形器身通體飾饕餮銜璧紋；蓋呈十字八
which was placed on side tables in the Nine Room Pavilion (The Pavilion 角形，重簷，中心為帶欄方塔，亭頂端飾一壽字蓮紋鈕。以掐絲琺瑯表現建
of Continuing Thought), residence of the consorts who accompanied the
Emperor Qianlong when he visited the Shenyang Palace, is illustrated in 築藝術為乾隆時期之新創，並風盛於清宮。此拍品造型別緻、工藝複雜、作
the exhibition catalogue Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty, The Empress 工精細、色彩輝煌，代表了當時掐絲琺瑯工藝的高超水平，更為此類別之佼
Place Museum, Singapore, 1989, p.67. A similar pair from The C. Roxton 佼者。C. Roxton 及Audrey B. Love 舊藏一對形制相近之燈籠，於紐約佳士
and Audrey B. Love Collection was sold at Christie’s New York, 20
October 2004, lot 451. Also compare to a very similar octagonal pagoda- 得2004年10月20日拍賣，拍品451號。比較另一件相近之亭式蓋，載於《故宮
shaped cover in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in 博物藏品大系–琺瑯器編4–清掐絲琺瑯》，北京，2011年，頁107，編號59。
Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 4- Cloisonné in
the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pp. 107, no. 59; this cover has
pierced doorways on each side instead of alternate sides like the present
lot.
The shape of the current cloisonné censer is also seen in large bronze
censers, which still stand today in the Forbidden City. One such large
censer stands in front of the First Gate of Heaven, and is illustrated in
Palaces of the Forbidden City, London, 1984, p.125, pl.122-3. Smaller
versions of the same form, but without the s-form handles, were also used
in the Forbidden City as lanterns, and lanterns of this shape are still to be
seen outside the Lijingxuan, which is one of the pavilions in the Palace of
Concentrated Beauty, where the Emperor Tongzhi was born, illustrated

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