Page 136 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art London May 2018

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A PAIR OF CLOISONNE ENAMEL TRIPOD The present pair of censers represents the high level of
CENSERS AND COVERS artistic and technical achievement of enamel craftsmanship
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD during the Qianlong period (r. 1736-1795). In response to the
emperor’s eclectic taste, the art of cloisonné enamelling saw
each of archaic ding form, the rounded sides decorated in
a great resurgence in techniques and decoration. Glamorous
bright enamels with archaic geometric dragon motifs above
and visually striking, these censers were either produced in
leaf-shaped panels of scrollwork all on a pale blue ground,
the Cloisonné Enamel Workshop within the Zaobanchu(Palace
on cylindrical legs capped with gilt bronze taotie, the domed
Workshops) located in the Forbidden City, or were tributary
cover, with ruyi-shaped panels of stylised foliage on a pierced
items made for the emperor in Guangzhou.
gilt bronze foliate ground, with a band of lappets below a
lingzhi Þ nial The Qianlong emperor was a keen collector of objects that
(4) were modelled after relics from antiquity. These censers,
24.5 cm, 9⅝ in. with their cauldron-like shape standing on three powerful
legs, takes their form from archaic ritual bronze ding vessels
th
PROVENANCE of the Shang (16 century-c.1050 BC) and Zhou (c.1050-221
th
Sotheby’s London, 29 October 1982, lot 24. BC) periods. Although the overall outline of these vessels

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