A rare pair of famille-rose 'bats and clouds' parfumiers, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period

Ton-Ying & Company, New York. 

American Art Association Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, 15th April 1932, lot 516. 

Liyan Jin, ed., Shanzhong shanghui oumei fendian ji meiguo yi lang deng jingshou: Zhongguo yishu pin ziliao huibian [Chinese Art Handled by Yamanaka & Co.’s Western Branches and American Art Association: A Documentary Compilation], vol. 7, Shanghai, 2025, p. 3500. 

Parfumiers or ‘incense holders’ of columnal form were an established feature of palaces and pavilions throughout the Qing dynasty and produced in various media and sizes. The finest produced during the artistic zenith of the Qianlong period (1736-1795), such parfumiers are generally fashioned with pagoda-like roofs and swirling openwork cloud designs to allow incense to escape, and are most commonly attested in metal and jade with porcelain imitations being exceedingly rare. Compare, for example, a related pair of censers from the Qianlong period in cloisonné enamel included in Splendors of China’s Forbidden City, The Field Museum, Chicago, 2004, p. 48, fig. 34; and a pair in painted enamel from the Qing Court Collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (accession nos gu 00116428 and 9), illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Enamels, vol. 5, Beijing, 2010, pl. 255.

Products of the Qianlong reign are typified by their blending of playful and vivid designs with extraordinary craftsmanship. With bright famille-rose enamels swirling across the intricately carved clouds and the stands gently mottled in skillful trompe-l’oeil topped with borders in imitation of cloisonné enamel, the present pair are emblematic of the very essence of ‘High Qianlong’ taste. For similar examples of the playful design, intricate openwork and extraordinary craftsmanship of the Qianlong reign, compare many of the Emperor’s famous rotating vases, including one with closely related ‘lingzhi clouds’ and bats illustrated in Qing Porcelain of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Periods from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 431, pl. 113, alongside two hat stands similarly blending the range of techniques mastered at the imperial kilns, pls 110 and 111, the former similarly featuring openwork bats and clouds and a faux-bois stand and the latter with similar molded kui dragons.

The present pair of parfumier appears to be unique, with only two other closely related porcelain examples apparently recorded: a famille-rose example of Qianlong mark and period in the Palace Museum, Beijing, decorated with gilt shou (‘longevity’) characters and bats in imitation of champlevé and painted enamel on an octagonal faux-bois stand ibid., p. 416, pl. 97; and an unmarked example, almost identical to the present design but with two five-clawed dragons placed among the bats, attributed to the Qianlong period, preserved in the National Museum of China, Beijing and illustrated on the Museum's website.