A LARGE SPINACH-GREEN JADE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER
Lot 1110 THE FLORENCE AND HERBERT IRVING COLLECTION

A LARGE SPINACH-GREEN JADE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER

CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Closed21 March 2019

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USD 555,000

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A LARGE SPINACH-GREEN JADE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY
Raised on three columnar legs, the sides of the vessel and cover finely carved with archaistic decoration of alternating stylized taotie masks and pairs of stylized dragons separated by an undulating band, the vessel flanked by S-shaped handles, with key-fret bands encircling the rims, the cover with coiled dragon finial
9 5/8 in. (24.4 cm.) diam.

Collection of Sir John Buchanan-Jardine, Bart (1900-1969).
Sotheby's, London, 8 June 1982, lot 306.
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1982.
The Irving Collection, no. 401.

Specialist note

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.