A VERY RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL 'LOTUS' CENSER
QIANLONG INCISED SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND PROB. OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
Chinese, Cloisonne & Bronze Covered Censer. Globular body, gilt bronze banded on rim shoulder and foot, Foo-Lion flanked to the shoulder holding rings. Covered with finely carved openwork zitan wood of overlapping lotus sprigs with LingZhi Red coral finial in natural shape formed ring.
Mark on base, incised four characters, Qianlong Reign Period

Dimension: 6-1/4"H x 6-1/2"W

LOT NOTES
The form and decoration on the current censer are highly unusual and no other example appears to have been published to date. It would have been part of a garniture set for incense burning in the palace, and is stylistically related to other examples made during the early Qianlong reign. Compare to two censers of globular form in the Qing Court Collection which are also set with two handles rising above the mouth rims and with minor bands of floral decoration almost identical to the present censer, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (2) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pls. 218-219. However these two examples are decorated with a main band of scrolling flowers and flanked instead by a pair of scroll-form handles.