A WHITE JADE ARCHAISTIC INCENSE BURNER AND COVER QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD |

of rectangular section, the straight sides with tubular corners rising on four round feet, flanked by a pair of animal mask loop handles suspending loose rings, the exterior worked in low relief with abstract archaistic dragon scrolls between cicada lappets and chevron bands, the domed cover of corresponding shape and surmounted by a coiled dragon finial, framed by four coiled chilongs at the corners, the stone of an even white tone, wood stand

Good condition.
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Intricately carved around the body with dragons and taotie masks, this censer encapsulates the Qianlong Emperor’s devotion towards China’s past and his efforts to revive celebrated traditions. This piece is modelled after archaic bronze containers made in the Shang (16th century- c.1046 BC) and Western Zhou (c.1046-771 BC) dynasties, which are believed to have been used for storing artists’ materials. Cheng Te-kun in “The t’u-lu colour-container of the Shang-Chou period”, B.M.F.E.A., no. 37, 1965, pp 239-250, discusses the bronze prototypes of this piece and suggests that pigments were stored in the hollowed tubes, while the central compartment would have contained water. In the Qing dynasty the original function was abandoned, and vessels of this type were instead used as incense burners in three-piece garniture sets. The ‘Three Accessories’ (sanshi) included a censer (lu), a box (he) and a vase (ping), which are together homophonous with the words for wealth, longevity and peace.   A similar white jade censer and cover in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 156; one from the Avery Brundage collection, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé,Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl. LV (left); another in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, was included in the Museum’s exhibition Radiance and Virtue: The R. Norris Shreve Collection of Chinese Jade and Other Oriental Works of Art, Indianapolis, 1983, cat. no. 29; and a fourth censer, from the collection of Sir John Woolf, included in the exhibition The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade, Sotheby’s, London, 2013, cat. no. 21, was sold in our London rooms, 16th December 1987, lot 470.

See also a spinach-green jade censer and cover of this form, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated as part of a three-piece altar garniture set in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 10, Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 111; another in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, published in Ming Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, pl. 52; a third with phoenix-shaped handles, illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 74; and a further example with strap handles, from the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, published op.cit., pl. LV (right).