AN IRON-RED AND GILT-DECORATED TWO-HANDLED TRIPOD CENSERJiaqing six-character mark in iron-red and of the period
Finely painted on the globular body with bajixiang, the Eight Buddhist Symbols, the ground densely filled with stylized peony scrolls, a pair of S-curve handles rising from the shoulders by a band of ruyi heads, the sides and rims decorated with keyfret patterns, all supported by hollow bulbous feet, the underside decorated with a single flower encircled by brackets and florets; the wood cover and stand finely carved and inserted with jades carvings.
14 1/2in (36.7cm) high of censer;
20 1/2in (52cm) high with cover and stand (wood cover and stand).Footnotes清嘉慶 《大清嘉慶年製》紅款 樊紅描金八吉祥紋鼎式爐
Provenance:
Private Florida Collection
來源：
佛羅里達州私人藏
Another identically sized and proportioned censer, also decorated in iron-red but with two opposing dragons rather than the bajixiang of our example and bearing a Jiaqing six-character seal mark at the rim, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2023, lot 3079. Clearly these two vessels were a product of the same Imperial workshop and presumably made at the same time to fill an Imperial order. The construction of each, the placement of the firing holes, and the potting appears identical, and the iron-red painted decoration is of the highest order, with superbly detailed passages throughout, with highlights picked out in a rich gilding. Our example is white glazed to the interior unlike the turquoise glaze to the referenced example.
A few other examples of this type of iron-red decorated censer have appeared at auction over the years, see Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31 October 1995, lot 481 and at Christie's London, 14 May 2019, lot 315.
This incense burner is likely to have been part of a five-piece altar garniture set, known as the 'Five Offerings' (wugong 五供), which were widely used in Buddhist rituals to seek protection from the deities. In shape and decoration, the vessels included in these sets, which also comprised a pair of candlesticks and wine containers, recall those employed to perform ancestral sacrifices during the Shang and Zhou periods. Restoring the ancient Chinese ways through the reinterpretation of archaic forms was viewed by the Qing rulers as one way to reinstate the importance of performing filial acts, the core value of Confucian thought that legitimised the emperors' right to rule.
AN IRON-RED AND GILT-DECORATED TWO-HANDLED TRIPOD CENSERJiaqing six-character mark in iron-red and of the period
Finely painted on the globular body with bajixiang, the Eight Buddhist Symbols, the ground densely filled with stylized peony scrolls, a pair of S-curve handles rising from the shoulders by a band of ruyi heads, the sides and rims decorated with keyfret patterns, all supported by hollow bulbous feet, the underside decorated with a single flower encircled by brackets and florets; the wood cover and stand finely carved and inserted with jades carvings.
14 1/2in (36.7cm) high of censer;
20 1/2in (52cm) high with cover and stand (wood cover and stand).Footnotes清嘉慶 《大清嘉慶年製》紅款 樊紅描金八吉祥紋鼎式爐
Provenance:
Private Florida Collection
來源：
佛羅里達州私人藏
Another identically sized and proportioned censer, also decorated in iron-red but with two opposing dragons rather than the bajixiang of our example and bearing a Jiaqing six-character seal mark at the rim, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2023, lot 3079. Clearly these two vessels were a product of the same Imperial workshop and presumably made at the same time to fill an Imperial order. The construction of each, the placement of the firing holes, and the potting appears identical, and the iron-red painted decoration is of the highest order, with superbly detailed passages throughout, with highlights picked out in a rich gilding. Our example is white glazed to the interior unlike the turquoise glaze to the referenced example.
A few other examples of this type of iron-red decorated censer have appeared at auction over the years, see Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31 October 1995, lot 481 and at Christie's London, 14 May 2019, lot 315.
This incense burner is likely to have been part of a five-piece altar garniture set, known as the 'Five Offerings' (wugong 五供), which were widely used in Buddhist rituals to seek protection from the deities. In shape and decoration, the vessels included in these sets, which also comprised a pair of candlesticks and wine containers, recall those employed to perform ancestral sacrifices during the Shang and Zhou periods. Restoring the ancient Chinese ways through the reinterpretation of archaic forms was viewed by the Qing rulers as one way to reinstate the importance of performing filial acts, the core value of Confucian thought that legitimised the emperors' right to rule.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
