A RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL STEM CUP
Qianlong blue enamel seal mark and of the period
Raised on a tall flared foot decorated with a raised rib and bands of beaded jewellery pendants, floral and ruyi heads, the everted rim adorned to the exterior with eight Sanskrit characters surrounded by leafy tendrils issuing lotus flowers, enamelled in colours and shades of black, blue, white, red and green reserved on a turquoise ground, the base impressed with a six-character mark in seal script. 12.8cm (5in) high.
Footnotes:
清乾隆 銅胎掐絲琺瑯纏枝花卉紋梵文高足杯
「大清乾隆年製」篆書款

The type of butter lamp was originally used in front of Tibetan temple altars, containing butter as fuel for Buddhist offerings. During the Ming and Qing periods, especially during religious occasions, the Court would often donate large quantities of butter to major Tibetan Buddhist temples. Butter lamps like the present lot decorated with Sanskrit characters were made not only of cloisonné with enamels but also of other materials such as silver, porcelain, carved lacquer, and jade. See a related blue and white stem cup, Qianlong seal mark and period, illustrated by U.Wiesner, Chinesisches Porzellan: Die Ohlmer'sche Sammlung im Roemer-Museum, Mainz am Rhein, 1981, pl.59. See a similar cloisonné enamel butter lamp, Qianlong mark and period, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ching Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, p.161, pl.74.

Compare with a related cloisonné enamel stem cup, Qianlong mark and period, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 May 2018, lot 18.

A few areas of re-enamelling on the exterior; interior re-gilt. some rubbing of the gilding.