Page 65 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art November 2018

This incense burner is likely to have been part of a five-piece altar Compare with a ruby-ground set in the National Palace Museum,
garniture set, known as the ‘Five Offerings’ (wugong 五供), which were Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition A Special Exhibition of
widely used in Buddhist rituals to seek protection from the deities. Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, Taipei,
In shape and decoration, the vessels included in these sets, which 1994, no.105. See also an incense burner illustrated by G.Avitabile,
also comprised a pair of candlesticks and wine containers, recall From The Dragon’s Treasure: Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and
those employed to perform ancestral sacrifices during the Shang 20th Centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, London, 1987, no.5, p.22.
and Zhou periods. Restoring the ancient Chinese ways through the Compare with another similar incense burner in the Nanjing Museum,
reinterpretation of archaic forms was viewed by the Qing rulers as one illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty,
way to reinstate the importance of performing filial acts, the core value Shanghai, 2003, pp.374-375.
of Confucian thought that legitimised the emperors’ right to rule.

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