A fine and very rare Imperial yellow glass censer, Qianlong incised four-character mark within double squares and of the period (1736-1795). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014
The censer is of compressed globular form, rising from a short foot to a waisted neck and slightly flared rim, the shoulders flanked by a pair of loop handles. The metal is of a bright opaque egg-yolk yellow tone. 5 1/8 in. (13 cm.) across. Estimate HK$1,800,000 - HK$2,500,000 ($233,231 - $323,932). Price Realized HK$4,600,000 ($595,896)
Provenance: Edward T. Chow Collection
Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 April 2004, lot 139
Notes: Yellow glass vessels are very rare due to their strict restriction for imperial usage, but this censer is all the more unusual owing to its shape with a ring foot, in imitation of archaic bronze gui, rather than the tripod shape more commonly seen among most other examples. Compare for example to a yellow glass censer supported on three feet, also bearing a Qianlong mark in double squares, in the Andrew K.F. Lee Collection, illustrated in Elegance and Radiance, The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, no. 54.
Two glass garniture sets each including a Qianlong-marked censer of similar size, a paste box and a vase, of opaque blue and pink colours, from the Beijing Palace Museum, are illustrated in Luster of Autumn Water. Glss of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005, pls. 117 and 118.
Compare also to two opaque turquoise glass tripod censers, one formerly in the Shorenstein Collection and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, December 2010, lot 2919; the other sold at Christie's Hong Kong, May 2013, lot 2310.
Christie's. IMPERIAL CHINESE TREASURES FROM A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COLLECTION, 28 May 2014, Hong Kong .http://www.christies.com/