437.
A CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER AND COVER, DING
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period
14,8 x 19,9 cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 5269.
The compressed globular body raised on three short hemispherical legs with small feet, the wide round neck with a thick gold metal mouth, two elongated horned dragon shaped handles between the shoulder and the mouth, the domed cover with an openwork of floral scrolls surmounted by a finial shaped as a coiled animal, the external surface of the vessel richly enamelled in two tones of green, white, red, blue and yellow on a turquoise ground to create a decoration of lotus flowers interrupted by the ‘Eight Buddhist Emblems’.
Originated in India, the Eight Buddhist Emblems (bajixiang) (the Wheel of the Law, the Conch, the Standard of Victory, the Parasol, the Lotus, the Vase, the Twin Fish and the Endless Knot) were first introduced in Tibet. During the Yuan dynasty and the early Ming period, Chinese emperors promoted Tibetan Buddhism and the use of symbols connected with the Lamaist doctrine such as the Eight Emblems which appear firstly on Longquan céladon ceramics and Jingdezhen ‘blue and white’ porcelain. Their presence on cloisonné vessels dates back to the fifteenth century. In later period, this Buddhist motif was integrated into the Daoist symbolic apparatus, assuming the meaning of a wish for longevity.
The mythical animal which appears three times on this incense burner, two serving as handles and the third as the finial of the cover, could be identified with a xiezhi because of the presence of a single horn and of the paws instead of hooves. Because of its ability to discern the truth from the falsehood, piercing liars with its horn, it became the emblem of the Censoriate, a group of court officials. According to the Shujing (“The Book of Documents”) and the Shijing (“The Classic of Poetry”), the judge Gao Yao – who lived during the Xia dynasty period – usually asked to a xiezhi to help him in detecting the guilty party from the innocent.
