Incense burner, cloisonne enamels on copper, China, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

Cloisonne enamel rectangular box with a domed, partly openwork cover, supported by two kneeling bearded foreign-looking men. The cover is surmounted by a gilt lion finial.

Purchased from Professor Stockbauer (Nuremberg), in 1876 and accessioned that year. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
According to the original acquisition record in the museum's archive, the object came from 'the Summer Palace, Pekin', which refers to the imperial summer retreat Yuanming Yuan, north of Beijing, which was was plundered and destroyed by British and French troops during the Second Opium War in 1860. Whether this object came from the Yuanming Yuan is impossible to verify, and the archive papers do not explain how it came to be in Germany. However, given the object's imperial quality and its early acquisition date, it seems likely that this was one of the pieces looted from the Yuanming Yuan in 1860.

Beijing Palace Workshops

This vessel was originally identified as an ice chest, which would have been filled with ice - collected in winter and kept frozen underground - and placed in the centre of a room to help combat the fierce heat of summer in north China. However, it is now considered more likely that this is a large incense burner as the pierced cover and thin metal lining of the body would have caused ice to melt too quickly. The lion finial supports this view, as a Buddhist lion (suanni) is often used to decorate incense burners.

255&A-1876