A rare documented imperial gilt bronze-decorated white jade candlestick, Seal mark and period of Qianlong, Recorded to have been commissioned in 1739 and completed in 1740 | 清乾隆 御製白玉嵌北京銅胎畫琺瑯燭臺 《乾隆年製》及《玉燭長調》款 據錄奉乾隆四年（1739年）御旨製成於五年（1740年）

A rare documented imperial gilt bronze-decorated white jade candlestick,

Seal mark and period of Qianlong,

Recorded to have been commissioned in 1739 and completed in 1740

清乾隆 御製白玉嵌北京銅胎畫琺瑯燭臺

《乾隆年製》及《玉燭長調》款

據錄奉乾隆四年（1739年）御旨製成於五年（1740年）

the base skilfully worked from an even white stone and rendered in the form of a ferocious mythical beast with a bifurcated tail, its back surmounted by a gilt-bronze column cast with swirling clouds and a six-petalled translucent white jade drip tray mottled with grey specks, the high domed centre supporting a gilt-bronze cap and an exquisite Beijing enamel baluster vase delicately painted with nine bats amid auspicious five-coloured clouds (wuse yun) against a yellow ground, all below a small six-petalled white jade candle tray set with a gilt-bronze pricket, incised to one side of the drip tray with a four-character seal mark and to the opposite side with yuzhu changtiao ('the jade candlestick of eternal harmony') in seal script

h. 23 cm