Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A FINE CHINESE RETICULATED PALE GREENISH-WHITE AND SPINACH-GREEN JADE 'IMMORTALS' INCENSE HOLDER
QIANLONG 1736-95

The cylindrical body intricately carved and pierced with a continuous scene of Immortals amongst pine and wutong in a mountainous landscape beside a pavilion, the ends applied with a spinach-green jade base and cover heightened in gilt, carved with bands of key fret, the cover with a central shou character encircled by five bats, 24cm. (2)

Provenance: from an English private collection, Shropshire, acquired in the 1970s.

Cf. The Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Jade, vol.8, p.239, no.198, p.242, no.201 and p.243, no.202 for comparable pairs of incense holders in pale celadon jade; also fefer to The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), pp.46-49, nos.36-38 for single cylindrical perfumiers with similar decoration; see also R Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, p.118, no.98 for a related example; see also Asian Art I, 17th November 2010, lot 335 for a comparable incense holder with spinach-green jade fittings previously sold in these rooms.

This type of incense holder is also known as a perfumier. The incense is placed inside the perfumier and the smoke emerges through the holes. Perfumiers were popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when they were usually made of carved bamboo. They were sought after by the literati class who liked to place them on their desks. Incense holders made of more expensive materials such as jade were usually created for the Imperial Palace.

清乾隆 青白玉鏤雕仙人庭園娛遊圖香筒
來源：英國什羅普郡私人收藏，購於 1970 年代。