Qianlong Cloisonne Incense Box with Lotus Design
A cloisonne 'scrolling lotus' incense box, Qianlong four-character mark, and an inventory mark, gui. 2.64 in. diam., 1.38 in. high. Cloisonne in the form of earlier bronze prototypes were used profusely during the Qianlong period (1735-1796) as trios of incense burner, container, and related tool caddy, known as luping sanshi in Beijing. Besides the typical reign marks, they often carry an extra character from the Thousand Character Classic, an ancient indexing system Chinese used since as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907). It contains exactly 1000 and non-repeated characters, hence was found to be versatile and efficient in indexing libraries and collections, including the Imperial Collection.
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- Bronze - An alloy of copper and tin, traditionally in the proportions of about 9 parts of copper to 1 part of tin.
The discovery of bronze in Western Asia in the 4th century enabled people to create metal objects which were superior to those previoulsy possible because of its strength and hardness, and it has been used throughout the world for weapons, coins, tools, statuary and other decorative items.
It is very fluid in a molten state, and its hardness, strength when set, and non-corrosive properties makes it most suitable for casting sculpture.
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