A brazier warmed a room without a chimney, a portable hearth set on its own feet. The Qing cloisonne version wraps the body in the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism, turning a heating appliance into a sermon you could stand next to.
The symbols, conch, umbrella, victory banner and the rest, march around the vessel in a single registered band. Cloisonne is ideal for this: each emblem sits in its own wired cell, legible at a glance and identical on every side.
Court rooms in winter needed heat, and the workshop saw no reason the necessary should be plain. A brazier could carry doctrine and still glow.
Utility and omen, sharing one rim. That is a very Qing idea of how an object should behave.
Object details
| Name | Cloisonne brazier with Eight Auspicious Symbols (掐丝珐琅八吉祥纹火盆) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 故00119741 |
| Technique | Cloisonne enamel (掐丝珐琅) |
| Period | Qing dynasty, imperial workshop |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum collection.