Page 185 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art
P. 185
This incense burner reflects the height of the Components of this incense burner are found
Chinese court’s fascination with European styles. on various imperial works of art; for example the
Designs that merged European and Chinese style of modelling of the three feet with a shell
forms and decorative motifs were intentionally and leaves is related to those found on imperial
chosen by the Qianlong Emperor in his desire to clocks, including two in the Palace Museum,
display imperial supremacy and grandeur. During Beijing, illustrated in The 200 Objects You Should
the mid-18th century European Jesuit artists Know. Timepieces, Beijing, 2007, pls 24 and
were employed at the court to design the palaces 38; the openwork scroll band on the cover is
in the northern part of the Yuanmingyuan, also reminiscent of the gilded design on a painted
known as the Old Summer Palace. The resulting enamel vase with Qianlong mark and of the
buildings combined a mix of Italian rococo, period, illustrated in Compendium of Collections
French rocaille and Chinese or Mughal-inspired in the Palace Museum. Enamels, vol. 5: Painted
foliate and floral designs and were filled with Enamels in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing,
equally opulent and European-style works of art, 2011, pl. 66; and the feathery scroll on the body
porcelains and décor. This is seen on the motifs of the incense burner is known on contemporary
of the present incense burner which mirrors famille rose porcelain, such as two vases
motifs found on the architectural members of decorated in yangcai enamels on a colour ground
the European palaces, including the western in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included
façade of the Haiyantang (Palace of the Tranquil in the Museum’s exhibition Stunning Decorative
Sea) illustrated in a print from 1783 included in Porcelains from the Ch’ien-lung Reign, Taipei,
the exhibition From Beijing to Versailles, Hong 2008, cat. nos 19 and 41.
Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1997, cat. no.
100. However, it also retains traditional Chinese
elements, such as the form and the auspicious
Buddhist motif of twin fish and bats.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 183
