In order to satisfy the Qianlong Emperor's predilection for the curious and the archaic, potters from the official kilns experimented with various techniques and styles to produce interesting wares. With technical advances in ceramic production, one popular fashion was for porcelain simulating other materials. The present censer is a superb example of the potters' creativity in making a close copy of a bronze vessel. The style of decoration, and the combination of bronze ground with gilt relief designs, is most often associated with the late Ming workshop of the bronze caster Hu Wenming who was famous for producing incense wares for the scholar's table. For comparable examples of censers inscribed Hu Wenming zhi, see the one illustrated by P. Moss, In Scholar's Taste, no. 158; one included in the exhibition, China's Renaissance in Bronze, Phoenix Art Museum, 1993, Catalogue, no. 12; and another sold in these Rooms, 1 May 2000, lot 765.

A group of these 'bronze simule' teadust-glazed porcelain vessels is in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware, Catalogue, no. 145. The design of the present censer appears to be unique.

(US$58,000-70,000)