Inset with various colored hardstones and pastes, the lion standing foursquare, adorned in a tasseled lotus-decorated saddle cloth, the lion's mane in tight curls, the tail of sinuous tendrils; the domed cover of pierced lotus scrolls, surmounted by a Buddhist lion finial. NOTE: the prototype for this form of censer is likely to have been created in the Ming dynasty, quite possibly the Xuande reign, given the exuberance of form and elaboration of detail. For another, less refined example, dated to the late Ming dynasty, see the censer from the collection of Ulrich Hausmann, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, October 8, 2014, lot 3357. Compare also the Qilin censer, from the same collection, dated to the early Ming dynasty, lot 3351.