A FINE AND RARE INLAID GILT-BRONZE AND CLOISONNE 'LION' CENSER AND COVER MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

finely cast as a Buddhist lion standing on four feet, the head forming the cover, with a ferocious facial expression, its mouth gaping open exposing sharp fangs with bulbous eyes and furrowed brows beneath a flaring horn, with long wavy mane, a collar around its draped neck, embellished with inlaid turquoise studs and suspending three bells at the chest, its bushy tail formed by tight curling whorls, the underside of the body reserved with a square gilt panel embossed with the four-character mark   

Cloisonn?nbsp;figures in the form of Buddhist lions with Qianlong reign marks and of the period are rare, although a pair of large figures of lions, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 69. See also two imposing figures of lions in the University Museum, Philadelphia, published in Basil Grey, The Arts of the East, London, 1962, pp. 89-90, pl. 73, where it is mentioned that the figures ‘must surely have been made for imperial presentation to a famous temple? Grey notes that it was common practice to use lions in temples, especially ones which were placed at entrances to guard against evil spirits (ibid., p. 90).