A PALE CELADON JADEITE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER 20th centuryPROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NANCY HUGUSA PALE CELADON JADEITE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER20th centuryThe globular body supported on three cabriole legs each issuing from a beast mask, the shoulder set with an elaborate pair of beast-mask loop handles each with archaistic angular scrollwork horns and suspending a loose ring, the domed cover with a large finial in the form of a Buddhist lion toying with a brocade ball, the stone a very pale celadon tone with fine snowflake-like white inclusions.7in (17.8cm) width across handles二十世纪 青白玉雕饕餮紋兽耳蓋爐 Provenance:Acquired in Hong Kong, 1980sDr. David Hugus is a renowned collector of Chinese rank badges, and an international authority on the subject. Prior to embarking on this pursuit, Dr. Hugus served with honor in the United States military. During his numerous tours in Asia and elsewhere, he earned a Masters in Science and a doctorate degree in Operations Research Systems Analyst (ORSA) from the Naval Postgraduate School, as well as a Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, and other distinctions. Upon reading an article by Schuyler Cammann of the University of Pennsylvania in 1991, Dr. Hugus discovered Chinese rank badges and took it upon himself to expand the canon of English-language scholarship on this topic. Since then, he has published Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank (2000, co-authored with Beverley Jackson) and Chinese Rank Badges: Symbols of Power, Wealth, and Intellect in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (2022). Over the course of his scholarship, Dr. Hugus and his wife, Nancy, have develop a distinguished collection of Chinese rank badges, textiles, and other works of art.