WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

80 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008
63
A fine cloisonné enamel incense burner
Qianlong mark and period
Diameter: 5D in, 13.3 cm
supported on three tapering legs ending in
gilt tips, the compressed globular body rises
to a waisted neck and ends in a gilt rim
from which two loop handles issue. The
exterior is enamelled in various colours
on a turquoise ground with scrolling lotus
and other flowers, and with cloud lappets
around the rim and feet. The base is inlaid
with a gilt cartouche incised with the
six-character mark of the Qianlong Emperor
in a line, and the commendation mark
qiang (strong or educated) below, and of
the period.
Formerly in a European private collection.
For similar examples, see Brinker and Lutz,
Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry
Collection, no. 245; and Shenyang Imperial
Palace Museum, The Prime Cultural Relics
Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace
Museum: The Enamel Volume, no. 3,
pp. 114–15. Note also a censer with a
Qianlong commendation mark in Lin,
Chinese Incense Burners: Collection of
Steven Hung & Lindy Chern, no. 44.
64
An unusual cloisonné enamel vase
18th century
Height: 8 in, 20.3 cm
of oval section with a well-rounded body,
standing on a slightly flaring foot, and a
tapering neck set with two tubular handles.
The vase is enamelled in various colours
on a turquoise ground with four registers
of decoration, three of scrolling lotus and
one of upright leaves, separated by narrow
bands of leafy blossoms on a lapis-blue
ground. The handles are enamelled with
small scrolling blossoms, and the rims and
base are gilt.
Formerly in a European private collection.
A Qianlong mark and period vase of
similar form is illustrated in Zhang,
Colorful, Elegant, and Exquisite: A Special
Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from
Mr Robert Chang’s Collection, pp. 126–7.