Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Lot 8
A parcel-gilt bronze incense burner, gui Yunjian Hu Wenming zhi mark, 17th century
12 May 2016, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£15,000 - £20,000
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A parcel-gilt bronze incense burner, gui
Yunjian Hu Wenming zhi mark, 17th century
Of archaistic gui form, the compressed globular body decorated on each side with taotie masks below a waisted neck decorated with stylised phoenix, all supported on a splayed foot with a leafy floral scroll, the sides flanked by a pair of mythical beast handles, all cast and gilt on a diaper ground, the mark incised on a gilt rectangular plaque at the base. 17cm (6 3/4in) wide
Of archaistic gui form, the compressed globular body decorated on each side with taotie masks below a waisted neck decorated with stylised phoenix, all supported on a splayed foot with a leafy floral scroll, the sides flanked by a pair of mythical beast handles, all cast and gilt on a diaper ground, the mark incised on a gilt rectangular plaque at the base. 17cm (6 3/4in) wide
Footnotes
十七世紀 局部鎏金銅仿古饕餮紋簋式爐
「雲間胡文明製」篆書鑄款
The inscription on the bottom reads 'Yunjian Hu Wenming zhi' (雲間胡文明製), which may be translated as 'Made by Hu Wenming of Yunjian'.
Yunjian refers to Songjiang, now in the outskirts of Shanghai. Hu Wenming was one of the best-known and most accomplished master metalworkers of the late Ming period. Gilt-metal pieces from his workshops were especially sought after by scholars and literati to embellish their desks. See R. Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p.52. A similar gilt-bronze incense burner is illustrated in Chinese Incense Burners: Collection of Steven Hung & Lindy Chern, Taipei, 2000, p.168, no.143.
A related parcel-gilt bronze incense burner, Hu Wenming mark, 17th century, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2014, lot 240.
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