Cloisonné enamelexpand_more
Gift of Ruth and Bruce Daytonexpand_more 98.170.2
With its spherical body, three lobed legs, and large handles, this incense burner is a copy of a li, a type of archaic bronze vessel prevalent during the Shang and Zhou periods. But a new technique—cloisonné, a type of enamel decoration on metal—is used here. In cloisonné, colored-glass paste is placed within compartments outlined by copper or bronze wires and then fired. Originating in Europe, cloisonné had spread to China by the 13th or 14th century and remained common throughout the Qing dynasty. The censer, its scrolling lotus design in red, yellow, green, black, mauve, and white enamels on a turquoise-blue ground, bears an inscription identifying it as having been made in the imperial workshop of the Qianlong period (r. 1736–95).
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