A LARGE IMPERIAL CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL ARCHAISTIC CENSER AND COVER, FANGDING, QIANLONG MARK AND PERIODChina, 1736-1795. The tapering rectangular censer has twin upright handles and is decorated to each side with massive raised flanges separating finely enameled taotie masks surrounded by and below a band of confronting kui dragons, all supported on four blade-shaped legs emerging from mythical-beast terminals. The reticulated gilt copper alloy cover is decorated with pierced foliage, enameled with angular scrolls, and surmounted by a gilt finial in the shape of a Buddhist lion. The cover is neatly incised with a horizontal six-character markda Qing Qianlong nianzhi on a gilt plaque and of the period.Provenance: Hong Kong trade. By repute acquired from an old private estate.Condition: Magnificent condition with minor wear and manufacturing irregularities, including expected pitting and tiny casting holes. The censer wobbles very slightly. No restorations or fills of any kind visible under the examination of strong UV light. Note that such a general state of preservation on a censer from this period is extremely rare.Weight: 8,338 gDimensions: Height 44.5 cm, Width 27.7 cmWith a custom fitted silk storage box. (2)The shape of this censer is based on ancient bronze vessels. The finely gilt blade-shaped legs, loop handles and flanges, along with the wide spreading taotie masks, all have their prototypes in Zhou dynasty bronzes, many of which are illustrated in Xiqing Gujian, ‘Inspection of Antiques from the Zhou Dynasty’, the catalogs of ancient bronzes in the Qing Court Collectionpiled under the authorization of the Qianlong Emperor in 1755. Censers of this type not only served as an important part of the palace furnishing, but were also used in rituals, banquets, and imperial ceremonies.Literatureparison:Several similar cloisonné fangding-form censers have been preserved in the Qing Court Collection, which are found in varying sizes with differentbinations of decorative elements.pare the fangding with cover with a cloisonné enamel Qianlong six-character mark, similarly decorated with taotie design but with flat dragon-form legs in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, no. 59 (33.8 cm).pare also three examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the first dated to the early Qing dynasty with a gilt openwork cover, lion-form finial and flat blade-shaped legs (35.6 cm), the second with a cast Qianlong six-character mark without a cover and decorated with angular chilong motifs (28.7 cm), the third with a cast Qianlong four-character mark and decorated with taotie design with blade-shaped feet (48.3 cm), illustrated inpendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Enamels - 2 - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, nos. 68, 245 and 246, respectively.pare also one with a lion-form f