Qianlong|Comprising an incense burner and cover, a pair of gu vases, and a pair of candlesticks, the incense burner of archaistic fangding form, the underside decorated with wispy ruyi-clouds, the four sides of the body decorated with lotus scrolls entwined with abstracted confronting chilong, separated by stepped flanges, the waisted neck with further archaic designs of chilong between the stepped shoulder and rim with lappets, flanked by a pair of S-shaped handles and supported on gently flared scrolled legs, the stepped cover with pierced floral openwork similarly decorated and surmounted with a gilt-bronze lion finial 65.5cm (25 3/4in) high; the pair of gu vases of square section, similarly decorated with lotus scrolls and designs of abstracted chilong, with a bulging middle section below a trumpet mouth and above a splayed foot, separated by stepped flanges, 56.5cm (22 1/4in) high; the pair of candlesticks also of square section, the flared feet rising to the shallow drip-pans and baluster columns rising to smaller drip-pans surmounted by gilt prickets, 59cm (23 1/4in) high. (6).|清乾隆 銅胎畫琺瑯夔龍拱纏枝蓮紋五供The garniture is particularly rare for having survived as a complete set and for its impressive scale. Given its size and decoration it would have most probably once adorned one of the temples in the Imperial Court; compare a smaller five-piece painted enamel garniture, Qianlong marks and of the period, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 5, Beijing, 2010, pl.177; and see also a related design of confronted chi dragons on a painted enamel jardinière, Qianlong mark and of the period, illustrated ibid., pl.156.The underside of the painted enamel incense burner is adorned with ruyi shaped cloud scrolls, a decorative design favoured in the Qing Court as demonstrated in the decoration of the ceiling of the Imperial theatre in the Hall of Fragrance; see Hu Chui, The Forbidden City: Collection of Photographs, Orange County, Cal., 1998 fig.69. Combined with the shou character at the centre of the incense burner and the chi dragon archaistic design, it would have conveyed the auspicious wish for long life to the emperor. Aiming to 'restore the ancient ways', the Qianlong emperor wished to reinstate the intrinsic qualities of simplicity, sincerity and happy exuberance of the ancient cultures. For this purpose, he instructed the Court to collect drawings of antiquities, such as the 'Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities' (Xi Qing Gu Jian 西清古鑑), which served as sources of designs for the production of ceramics and works of art such as the present lot.See a smaller related five-piece painted enamel garniture, 19th century, missing the cover of the incense burner, which was sold at Christie's Paris, 7 June 2011, lot 274.