Lot Essay
Handwarmers were used for keeping warm during the winter. Filled with burning coals, the heat escaped through the pierced top. They were made of bronze and other metals as well as the more costly painted enamel and cloisonné enamel such as the present example.
Compare the current one with a Qing dynasty example with cloisonné body decorated with bats and reticulated gilt-copper cover in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in the catalogue for the exhibition, Great National Treasures of China, Taipei, 1994, p.207, no.49.
See also the 16th century Ming example sold in our New York Rooms, 18 September 2003, lot 154.
Compare the current one with a Qing dynasty example with cloisonné body decorated with bats and reticulated gilt-copper cover in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in the catalogue for the exhibition, Great National Treasures of China, Taipei, 1994, p.207, no.49.
See also the 16th century Ming example sold in our New York Rooms, 18 September 2003, lot 154.
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