15TH CENTURY, PROBABLY XUANDE PERIOD

Ming-dynasty ribbed censers of this form derive their shape from Tang-dynasty pottery prototypes such as a green-glazed example sold at Christie’s New York, 14 September 2018, lot 1279. This rare blue-glazed example can be compared to two glazed censers of similar form in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 102-105), an aubergine-glazed example bearing a raised six-character Xuande mark below the rim, and a turquoise-glazed example without a mark, but with the glaze falling around the edge of the base in a similar manner to that seen on the present example.