Page 217 - Bonhams Chinese Art NYC Nov 9 2017

The garniture is particularly rare for having survived as a complete set Combined with the shou character at the centre of the incense burner
and for its impressive scale. Given its size and decoration it would and the chi dragon archaistic design, it would have conveyed the
have most probably once adorned one of the temples in the Imperial auspicious wish for long life to the emperor. Aiming to ‘restore the
Court; compare a smaller five-piece painted enamel garniture, Qianlong ancient ways’, the Qianlong emperor wished to reinstate the intrinsic
marks and of the period, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in qualities of simplicity, sincerity and happy exuberance of the ancient
the Palace Museum: Enamels 5, Beijing, 2010, pl.177; and see also a cultures. For this purpose, he instructed the Court to collect drawings
related design of confronted chi dragons on a painted enamel jardinière, of antiquities, such as the ‘Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities’ (Xi Qing Gu
Qianlong mark and of the period, illustrated ibid., pl.156. Jian 西清古鑑), which served as sources of designs for the production
of ceramics and works of art such as the present lot.
The underside of the painted enamel incense burner is adorned with
ruyi shaped cloud scrolls, a decorative design favoured in the Qing See a smaller related five-piece painted enamel garniture, 19th
Court as demonstrated in the decoration of the ceiling of the Imperial century, missing the cover of the incense burner, which was sold at
theatre in the Hall of Fragrance; see Hu Chui, The Forbidden City: Christie’s Paris, 7 June 2011, lot 274.
Collection of Photographs, Orange County, Cal., 1998 fig.69.

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