A Large Cloisonne Enamel Tripod Censer and Cover (Ding) Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period

the globular vessel supported on three legs issuing from the mouths of gilt-bronze lion heads, the body enamelled with stylized lotus blossoms encircled with leafy stems, the motif repeated on the waisted neck, below a raised band of gui dragon scrolls between ruyi-head clouds, applied on the shoulders with two large S-shaped handles with gilt keyfret sides, the lower section of the domed cover decorated with eight pierced shou medallions, all on a turquoise ground, surmounted by an impressive round finial cast in gilt-bronze with a reticulated dragon and ruyi-shaped clouds above a collar of ruyi-head lappets

There are expected areas of enamel pitting and loss that has been filled with wax, especially around the rim of the cover. The cloisons are intact, but has some loss to the gilding. But the gilding on the finial, cover, handles are intact with only light wear. The overall condition is quite good.
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This ding form which is based on the shape of archaic ritual bronze vessels, is one of the characteristic forms for incense burners. Its cauldron-like shape, standing on three short slightly curved legs, reflects the predilection in Ming and Qing times for vessels in the form of bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Although the overall outline of the archaic model is retained, the design is contemporary and has been skillfully adapted to suit the form.

Cloisonné censers of this form are better known from the Qianlong period, but the present piece with its bold decoration and unusual colour scheme would seem to have been made somewhat earlier in the Qing dynasty. Compare a Qianlong piece illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London, 1962, pl. 70. Garner mentions (p. 92) that the censer is one of a pair and is a fine example of the more ornate pieces made for the court. Compare another censer from the Fonthill Heirlooms, sold at Christie's London, 18th October 1971, lot 110; and a third example sold in our Los Angeles rooms, 17th June 1977, lot 1687, from the George C. Frelinghuysen collection.

See also a pair of censers flanking an imperial throne in the Qianqing Gong (Hall of Heavenly Purity) illustrated in situ in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonne - Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1985, p. 24, fig. 4. Compare also related censers forming part of an altar set made for the Yonghe Gong (Lama Temple) in Beijing. One of the altar sets was later brought to France and is displayed in Fontainebleau, illustrated in Le Musée chinois de l'impératrice Eugénie, Paris, 1994, p. 26, fig. 18.