Page 60 - Chiense works of art sothebys march 14 2017 nyc

This censer is striking for its large size, imposing mask-form 2008 9 17 601
feet and unusual geometric design of chilong. By drawing from
the past and combining it with modern designs with technical 2016 11 9 138
mastery, the result is an arresting statement of the power and
grandeur of the Qianlong era. The form derives from an ancient 2015 6 3 3118
ritual bronze prototype, ding, of the Eastern Zhou period.
A heightened sense of dynamism is achieved through the 1988 473 474
elongated handles that extend dramatically in an S-curve from 2016 9 16 1227
the globular body, a feature that rst appeared in the Song
dynasty. The curves of the form and erce masks that form the 1985 299 467
legs provide an attractive contrast with the straight lines and
sharp angles of the design. 2008 4 11 2826

Censers such as the present example comprised part of a ve- Robert H Clague
piece altar garniture and would have created an impressive
scene during ritual ceremonies, thus emphasizing the China s Renaissance in Bronze
importance and solemnity of such events. These garnitures
were produced for speci c temples in the Imperial Palace and 1994 38
were generally commissioned as tribute to the emperor. In
addition to the censer, a complete set would comprise two
pear-shaped vases derived from archaic hu vases, and two
candlesticks. A pair of vases decorated with the same designs
of geometric scrolls and ruyi bands at the base of the neck
and foot respectively, anked with dragon scroll handles, was
o ered at Christie’s New York, 17th September 2008, lot 601;
and another single vase was o ered in our London rooms, 9th
November 2016, lot 138. Compare also another Qianlong mark
and period censer of related form, but supported on lion-mask
feet and cast with bands of geometric scrolls, sold at Christie’s
Hong Kong, 3rd June 2015, lot 3118.

Qianlong mark and period censers of this type are known cast 2004 11 9 Alfred Morrison
with dragons; see two illustrated in situ in a shrine in the Hall of 17
the Imperial Ancestral Temple and Hall of Ancestral Worship,
published in Wan Yi, Daily Life in the Forbidden City, New York, 2007 10 9 1322
1988, pls 473 and 474; and another sold at Christie’s New
York, 16th September 2016, lot 1227.

Complete garniture sets include a much larger set decorated
with dragons, illustrated in Qingdai gongting shenghuo, Hong
Kong, 1985, p. 299, pl. 467, in situ in the Xianruo Temple,
located in the garden of Cining Gong (Palace of Compassion
and Tranquility) where the empress and consorts conducted
Buddhist religious ceremonies; another sold in our Hong Kong
rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2826; and a set in the Robert H.
Clague collection, now in the Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix,
included in the museum’s exhibition China’s Renaissance in
Bronze, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 1994, cat. no. 38.

Ritual vessels of this type were also decorated with phoenix
instead of dragons, indicating that they may have been
commissioned as a tribute to the Qianlong emperor’s mother.
See a bronze altar vase, from the Alfred Morrison collection,
sold at Christie’s London, 9th November 2004, lot 17; and
another pair of imperial bronze vessels cast with dragons and
phoenix made for one of the buildings in the Yuanmingyuan
(Imperial Summer Palace), sold three times in our Hong Kong
rooms and most recently 9th October 2007, lot 1322.

58 SOTHEBY’S