Each, 11.7 cm. （4 5/8 in.） high

Provenance：
Claude Burrand Reboul Collection （1825-1886）
Colonel Jaques-Frederic Reboul Collection （1863-1937）,
thence by descent within the family

The cloisonné enamel technique is not indigenous to the Chinese, but was spread to China from the Islamic world and Byzantine Empire in the 14th century. Although there is a group of known cloisonné enamel examples from the Yuan dynasty, the earliest datable example dates to the Ming dynasty, Xuande period. However, it is evident from the fully comfortable use of the Chinese techniques and elements displayed in the early Ming era, that the Chinese artisans must have had a considerable amount of time prior to this to develop such experience in the application of the technique.

It was at the beginning of the early Qing dynasty during the reign of the Kangxi emperor, that cloisonné enamel works gained popularity and functionality at the Qing Court. Cloisonné enamel works reached their zenith during the Qianlong period, which resulted in many cloisonné enamel vessels being produced specifically for the use of the Imperial household, whether as a large cloisonné enamel incense burner to exhibit a sense grandeur and authority for one of the halls or palaces； or as a small cloisonné enamel seal paste box and cover as a scholarly object of personal affection. Unlike cloisonné enamel wares from the previous reigns such as the Kangxi era which generally adhered to design principles which followed archaic forms of Ming dynasty examples, Qianlong period examples exhibited a much greater diversity of design, as explained by B. Quette, ‘Cloisonné Form and Decoration from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty’, in Cloisonné, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, 2001, New York, p.53.

Price estimate:
HKD: 300, 000 - 500, 000
USD: 38, 500 - 64, 100

Auction Result:
HKD: 354,000