MING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE PARCEL-GILT-BRONZE DOUBLE-GOURD HANGING CENSER AND COVER
MING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY
The censer is formed as a double-gourd cast with a band of lotus petals at the mouth rim of the upper section, and the lower section is flanked by two Buddhist lions, each playing with a brocade ball which supports the upright loop handle. The handle is cast with a pair of dragon heads confronting a pearl, and the openwork cover is cast with lotus blossoms beneath a flower-head terminal. The lions, dragons and floral details are highlighted in gilt against the attractively patinated bronze, and the base is cast with an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark.
8 in. (20.2 cm.) high with handle raised

Provenance

Important private collection, France.

Lot Essay

The double gourd is a very auspicious symbol, with a number of meanings. The gourd can be seen as a symbol of fertility, due to its numerous seeds. It was also hollowed out and used as a storage vessel, in particular for medicine, and thus became associated with the Daoist Immortal Li Tieguai, who used it to hold the medicine with which he offered healing to the sick. Li Tieguai is often depicted with his double gourd issuing wafts of smoke which represent immortality, a particularly apt image to associate with the present censer which would likewise have emitted smoky wisps when in use.

A very similar hanging double-gourd-shaped incense burner, dated to the 16th-17th century, is illustrated by P. Moss, The Second Bronze Age, Hong Kong, 1991, no. 53.

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