CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

This censer is notable for its bold, well-proportioned, bulbous form as well as its exquisitely carved bands of archaistic animal motifs and magnificent, pierced, coiled dragon-form finial. During the eighteenth century, some of the finest jade carvings found their inspiration in archaic artefacts collected and treasured by the emperors. The decorative motifs on the body of the present censer, as well as the tripod form, draw inspiration from archaic bronze vessels.

In his publication Jade, London, 1991, p. 164, Roger Keverne describes this particular censer as a "classic example of spinach jade at its best [...] the type of incense burner and cover found in the imperial palace." Compare the spinach-green jade censer and cover, dated to the mid-Qing dynasty, carved with archaistic taotie motifs on the body and with similar S-shaped handles and dragon-form finial, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Hebei, 1991, p. 54, no. 86.