Minneapolis Institute of Art

Incense burner

China

Date

1736–95

Medium

Cloisonné enamel

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

With its spherical body, three lobed legs, and large handles, this incense burner is a copy of a li , a type of archaic bronze vessel prevalent during the Shang and Zhou periods. But a new technique—cloisonné, a type of enamel decoration on metal—is used here. In cloisonné, colored-glass paste is placed within compartments outlined by copper or bronze wires and then fired. Originating in Europe, cloisonné had spread to China by the 13th or 14th century and remained common throughout the Qing dynasty. The censer, its scrolling lotus design in red, yellow, green, black, mauve, and white enamels on a turquoise-blue ground, bears an inscription identifying it as having been made in the imperial workshop of the Qianlong period (r. 1736–95). Asia

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