The crane and tortoise combine as a powerful symbol of longevity. The crane is the bird of the Daoist Immortals and is said to reach a fabulous age – possessing the secret of eternal youth; furthermore it embodies super human wisdom and is an emblem of good luck. The tortoise is a supernatural animal – its shell used in divination, and also as an emblem of longevity; the Chinese phrase Kwei-ho-tung-chun signifies ‘may your days be as long as the tortoise and the crane’. Cranes often flanked the Imperial thrones of the Forbidden City and were usually incense burners ‘emitting fragrant smoke that spiralled upwards to envelop the son of Heaven in an ethereal haze’*. The Imperial association was further enhanced with the cranes embodiment of the wish ‘may our dynasty last ten thousand generations’.

Each white enamelled bird stands upon a tortoise on a domed square shaped base – the latter decorated with sea creatures and the ‘eight precious things’, or signs of good fortune. A gap between the birds’ removable wings allows the perfume of the incense to escape from the body, as well as through the open beak.

similar example
‘Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels’ by Sir Harry Garner 1970 – plate 75.

′ *The Palace Museum: Peking, by Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, New York 1982 page 44–45.