A FINE AND RARE LATE MING SPLASHED-GILT BRONZE CENSER

细节
A FINE AND RARE LATE MING SPLASHED-GILT BRONZE CENSER
17TH CENTURY

The censer finely cast in oval cross-section with waisted sides raised to broad flat mouth rims, supported on either side with handles modelled as confronted chilong, each bearing a lingzhi-spray in their mouths, all raised on four ruyi-shaped feet, the recessed base with an impressed Xuande six-character nianhao
8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) across

拍品专文

Previously sold in New York, 25 January 1975, lot 271.

The oval form of the present lot is popular during the Xuande period and is a variation of a group of ceramics known as 'narcissus' bowls. A closely related bronze example with kui-dragon handles is illustrated by P. Moss and G. Hawthorn, The Second Bronze Age: Later Chinese Metalwork, no. 43, where the authors suggested that censers of this type were essential 'adjuncts to the literati aesthetic'.

Compare with two Xuande ceramic examples of similar oval shape, the first from Mr and Mrs F. Brodie Lodge collection decorated with lotus scrolls in underglaze-blue, illustrated in Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 30, 1958, no. 124; the other with a copper-red glaze, illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods: Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, no. 71.

A related Xuande mark and period cloisonne censer with handles modelled as clambering dragons is in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, is illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Catalogue, 1999, no. 17.

The dragon handles of the present lot are rather unusual with lizard-like tails and are comparable to the chilong carved on the interior of an oval dish of Xuande date in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated Zhongguo Qiqi Quanji, vol. 5, no. 24.

(US$39,000-50,000)