Olivia Xu
Associate Specialist
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 紳士藏品
Lot 56*
A BRONZE ARABIC-INSCRIBED INCENSE BOX AND COVER 17th/18th century
16 May 2024, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £5,376 inc. premium
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Chen Xie
Specialist
Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
A BRONZE ARABIC-INSCRIBED INCENSE BOX AND COVER
17th/18th century
With straight sides and lipped rims, the flat cover cast with Arabic calligraphy reading alhamd lilah (الحمد لله) 'Praise be to God', within a band incised with flowers, box. 10.3cm (4in) diam. (3).
With straight sides and lipped rims, the flat cover cast with Arabic calligraphy reading alhamd lilah (الحمد لله) 'Praise be to God', within a band incised with flowers, box. 10.3cm (4in) diam. (3).
Footnotes
十七/十八世紀 銅鑄阿拉伯文香盒
Provenance: a Middle Eastern private collection
來源： 中東私人收藏
Such bronzes, as the present lot, were crafted primarily for the domestic Chinese market. It is likely that these artefacts were utilised by Muslim communities residing within China, including both foreign Muslims and indigenous Chinese Muslims. Notably, during the Ming dynasty, the Hongzhi and Zhengde emperors demonstrated a particular interest in Islam, bronzes with Arabic inscriptions were made for the Court use and given as gifts to subjects. See R.D.Mowry, China's Renaissance in Bronze: The Robert H.Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900, Phoenix, 1993, p.127.
Compare with a related Arabic inscribed incense set including a circular box and cover, 16th/17th century, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 15 March 2017, lot 560. See also a 17th/18th century Arabic inscribed incense box and cover, which was sold at Bonhams London, 8 November 2018, lot 270.
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