AN INLAID BRONZE ‘ELEPHANT’ TRIPOD CENSER AND OPENWORK COVER, 18TH CENTURYChina. Heavily cast, the censer is decorated in relief with lotus scrolls flanked by a pair of handles in the form of caparisoned elephant heads with their trunks raised, supported on three further elephant heads, their curved trunks forming the legs. The openwork cover is pierced with lotus scrolls surrounding the finial cast as a recumbent elephant with an urn on its back filled with auspicious and precious objects including a conch, ingot, the Three Jewels, and a cash coin. The censer is embellished with inlays of pearl, glass, and semiprecious stones. The base cast with a lotus knop.Provenance: From a Danish private collection and thence by descent. The underside with faint remnants of an old collector’s inscription.Condition: Very good condition with old wear, traces of use and casting irregularities, some losses to inlays, the handles slightly loose. Fine, naturally grown, rich patina.Weight: 3,577 gDimensions: Height 31 cmExpert’s note: The fine inlays of pearl, glass, and semiprecious stones strongly indicate an imperial connection to this censer, which alsopares favorably to Qianlong-marked examples, see for example Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2019, lot 3115.Literatureparison:The tradition of using three elephant heads as the feet of imperial bronze censers and braziers can be traced back at least as far as the Xuande reign (1426-1435). An example of a censer, bearing a six-character Xuande reign mark, on which the elephants balance on their rolled trunks, as on the present lot, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in A Special Exhibition of Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, Taipei, 1994, p. 199, no. 54.Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4128Price: HKD 524,000 or approx.EUR 82,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A bronze ‘elephant’ tripod censer and openwork cover, Qing dynasty, 18th centuryExpert remark:pare the closely related form, decoration, and inlays, as well as the related size (33.6 cm). Note the gilt handles and finial, which may possibly be of a later date.Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: San Francisco, 24 June 2013, lot 1119Price: USD 92,500 or approx.EUR 107,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A large bronze tripod censer and cover, Qianlong periodExpert remark:pare the closely related form, decoration, and inlays. Note the apocryphal dating inscription (corresponding to 1651) as well as the larger size (51.5 cm).十八世紀銅嵌寳太平有象三足銅爐中國。熏爐體型碩大，造型繁複絢麗，一尊大象伏臥於爐蓋之上，雙耳肥碩，象鼻彎曲，寶象滿飾纓絡，背負聚寶盆，内有吉祥珍品，如海螺、元寶等。爐蓋高聳，通體透雕纏枝蓮花紋，枝葉錯縱盤繞，蓮花盛開其間。雙象首耳，象鼻、象牙造型誇張，腹部浮雕纏枝花卉，下承三象首足，裝飾瓔珞並嵌飾各色