A rare and large iron-red tuquoise ground 'dragon' censer Qianlong mark and of the period
332
The Property of a Gentleman
A rare large turquoise-ground iron-red 'dragon' tripod incense burner
Qianlong seal mark in a horizontal line and of the period
The front boldly enamelled with two iron-red scaly dragons divided by a flaming pearl beneath cloud coils and a cloud-collar band at the base of the neck, the back of the vase with two similar dragons, on a rich opaque even pale turquoise ground.
34.5cm (13¾in) wide
Sold for £169,250 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • 清乾隆 綠地礬紅龍紋雙耳三足爐 礬紅「大清乾隆年製」篆書款

    Provenance: an English private collection.
    According to the owner, the incense burner was acquired by his father during the 1920s.

    Incense burners such as this were designed as the imposing centrepiece of five-piece garnitures gracing the temples and altars of the Imperial household. With their origins dating as far back as the ritual bronzes of the archaic period, Chinese altar garnitures of the 18th century, made in metalwork as often as in ceramic, consisted of the familiar group of a single central incense burner flanked by a pair of pricket candlesticks and a pair of beaker vases.

    The confronted five-clawed dragons are a powerful symbol of unity in an Imperial household and are associated with the Emperor. Compare a similar censer in the Tsui Museum of Art, but with puce enamel rather than iron-red, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, no.177.

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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