Braziers of this large type were not only decorative but also functional, serving as convenient sources of heat in the Imperial palaces.
The use of three elephant heads as supports for imperial censers and braziers originated during the Xuande reign, though it was in the later Ming period that larger examples, often hexagonal in shape, became prevalent. A smaller incense burner of similar type and form (11 in. high), featuring openwork panels and elephant-head supports, dated to the second half of the 16th century, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in Possessing the Past, by Wen C. Fong and James C.Y. Watt (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, p. 454, pl. 256). Another comparable large cloisonné enamel brazier or incense burner of hexagonal form is published by E. B. Avril in Chinese Art in the Cincinnati Art Museum (1997), pp. 182 and 190, no. 98.
See also a related cloisonné enamel brazier with an openwork cover, late Ming dynasty, sold at Christie’s London, 9 November 2010, lot 228.